My Afternoon Walk Observation
Saw something funny the other day. Was just walking through the park near my place, trying to clear my head after a long week. You know how it is. Anyway, I see this group of kids, maybe six or seven years old, just absolutely going for it, running across the grass. But here’s the kicker – they were all running backwards. Seriously. Not just messing about for a second, but properly sprinting, looking over their shoulders, laughing like crazy.
It just struck me as really weird. Like, why? Why run backwards? It’s harder, you can’t see where you’re going properly, you’re likely to trip. Seemed totally counterproductive. But they were having the time of their lives. Didn’t seem to care about falling over, which a couple of them did, they just bounced back up and carried on.
Made me think about this project I was stuck on a few years back. Felt exactly like that, like I was forced to run backwards the whole time.
- We started with a clear goal.
- Then management changed their minds.
- Then they changed them back, but wanted it done differently.
- We spent weeks undoing stuff we’d already finished.
Honestly, it was maddening. Felt like every step forward, we took two steps back. I’d go home feeling completely drained, like I’d worked hard all day but achieved less than nothing. We were definitely ‘running backwards’ on that thing. Didn’t feel fun like those kids in the park, though. It just felt stupid and wasteful.
We tried to explain. Showed them the plans, the progress reports, everything. Didn’t seem to matter. They had their reasons, I guess, or maybe they just didn’t have a clue. Who knows. We eventually got something finished, but it wasn’t what we originally planned, and it took way longer than it should have.
So yeah, watching those kids running backwards, laughing… it was strange. Part of me thought, ‘that’s dumb, you’ll fall’. Another part, maybe the part remembering that stupid project, kind of got it. Sometimes you just feel like you’re going the wrong way, even if you’re trying your best. At least the kids looked like they were choosing to do it for fun.
