Jonathan Vaudreuil

It’s been a month of deep thoughts so far.

Even as my role changes and I push forward in my career, I have toyed with the idea as to what I should be writing about on this blog. Should I bring work into the focus more? Should I write more about perspective? There is a large intersection between the two, somewhere comfortable, yet I have been unsure if that’s where I want to dig deeper.

A conversation with my fiancée the other night convinced me as to what I want to write about: perspective. We were discussing right and wrong, and I pointed out that while her and I will never agree with certain things people can do, there is a perspective which disagrees with us. Even if allowing such a thing is detrimental to society, there is a way to justify it as right.

I’m returning here with this in mind, as my fuel and guiding light. I’m looking forward to hearing all your thoughts on what I have coming up.

Years ago I made a promise to myself: no more New Year's resolutions.

If it's important enough to do, just do it. You don't need an excuse like New Year's to change things in your life, you just need a reason. Big reasons tend to work best.

I know the New Year seems like a fresh start. It's no different from today, or a week from Tuesday, or April 11. All it is? A new day. The big number at the end of the date my change, but it's still a new day, just like all the others.

If you want to embrace change, look at each new day as a chance for a fresh start.

With the year closing out, it's time for me to take a little time and review the past year.

I do this type of reflection twice per year in different ways. My Spring review is about the big picture, and my end of the year review is more about the details. I go over my projects, my finances, my career progress, and my personal progress to see what I did right, what didn't go as I planned, and why things either worked out or didn't.

It's fascinating to look at. A year is a large enough block of time to see changes, trends, and progress. It also puts all the holes in my plans on display for me to pick at and think about.

So I make new plans, adjust and tinker, and set out again.

What are you reflecting on as the year comes to an end?

One of the most popular and passed-around sites right now is People of Walmart.

Go there and you’ll find new pictures posted every day of the absurd people and things others saw at Walmart, along with some witty caption for each post. People are dressed in ridiculous outfits, bring pet monkeys into the store, and decorate their cars with little plastic dinosaur toys. Most of it is funny satire.

What gets people riled up about the site the most? When they make fun of people who look stereotypically poor, uneducated, or uncultured. When the comments are anti-gay, or insulting to people with obvious physical handicaps.

It made me think of a lesson I learned from the service manager at a car dealership.

The dealership he worked at was split into two separate buildings next to each other: one Dodge, one Subaru. Since I was looking for a job he told me the difference between the customers at the two dealerships. Dodge customers expected their current car troubles to be fixed when they drove their car home from the shop. Subaru customers did not expect their cars to have problems.Read more

How long should you take when making a decision?

Think of it this way: how is this decision going to impact your life?

Measure it in a few categories. The amount of money it will cost is important. So is how much of your life will be affected by this decision. If the differences between your options are quite distinct, you may want more time.

Huge purchases, such as houses and cars, should involve a lot of time. When I bought my fiancee's engagement ring the jeweler told me people spend more time looking over rings and diamonds than they do houses they're about to buy. That's a frightening thought. A condo where we live can easily go for more than 100 times what her ring cost, nevermind a house with a yard.

What about jobs and careers? If you're going to spend all those hours working, you should spend the time to figure out what you want out of a job and company. See if you can get as much of what you're looking for as you can. The more you think about what you want out of life and how to get it, the more of it you'll get in the end.

When should you spend little time?Read more

I've been on a quest for the perfect sleeping bag and tent.

Like any product or service, I had to consider qualities in different areas and decide what's most important to me. I could buy the lightest one person tent out there, which would cost over $400. If I'm willing to buy one that weighs just under a pound more I could spend as little as $90. Would I be comfortable every night in that $90 tent? Not really.

After a few hours of research I decided I liked a particular tent, as shaving extra weight tends to cause the price to skyrocket. Then I picked a sleeping bag on a new set of criteria. Done.

In the end, I stayed away from the latest and greatest ultralight gear while finding some fantastic items. I go camping a handful of times each year, with just once or twice being times when weight matters.

At the end of all this, I realize this is who I am and this is not what the world is.Read more

No matter how big, powerful, and invincible you think you are, there is always something out there which could ruin the party real quick. Be curious, not cocky.

Note: the above transcript is false. It's actually an updated version of an old Navy joke. Hope you laughed!

In a radio interview with the legendary rock band AC/DC one listener called in just to say, “You guys have put out 12 albums and they all sound the same!”

The band’s lead guitarist, Angus Young, replied with, “Actually, we’ve put out 13.”

When you’ve sold over 200 million albums worldwide it’s easy to answer questions that way. The band doesn’t care if you think they’re a one-trick pony: they set out to write the music they wanted to, never changed their style, and it worked better than most bands could ever dream of.

Then again, AC/DC were far from being an overnight success anywhere outside of their home country, Australia. Their first international album flopped when it came out. So did their second album, which the label didn’t even bother releasing in the USA (until 1981 – five years later). With their third album they cracked the top-40 in a few European countries. When AC/DC released Highway to Hell they had their first hit album across Europe and in the USA.

International success came with their fifth album, 5 years after their first single in Australia which (I bet you can guess it…) failed to chart.Read more

This is part of my weekly series on how philosophy (personal beliefs) affect people’s perspective, and how you can this knowledge in life.

The engineer and the artist have the same mission.

Both are working to build something, whether it’s physical or a blueprint. What’s the difference? How each goes about their work.

Approaching the task from a pure technology standpoint, the engineer believes in doing things a specific way, which is the best way he knows. His strength is in understanding the best way of doing things. His opinion seems to be a fact at this point. At the same time, his weakness is being unable to look away from the path he believes is the best one. He does not want to try a different way of doing things.Read more

This is a fundamental piece of my personal philosophy, one I hope you'll embrace yourself.

Ask questions. Ask more questions. Ask deeper questions. Ask hard questions. Ask "why" a lot. Ask "how" a lot. When you're done, ask one more tough question and see if you still think you're done.

I could give you answers all day. The problem? All I'm giving you are my answers to my life. This is another fundamental piece of my personal philosophy: find your own way. Let me explain.

Ever try to follow in someone's footsteps and do what they did, only to not have it work out the same? That's because you're removing yourself from the equation. It worked for them, not you. Some of what they did will work or you, and some of it won't. If you had questioned each of their steps for yourself you would have discovered your own way.Read more