Be a Trim Tab

Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary—the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab.

It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it's going right by you, that it's left you altogether. But if you're doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go.

So I said, call me Trim Tab.

— Buckminster Fuller

Interview in Playboy February 1972

When I feel overwhelmed or that I can’t make a difference, I look for trim tab opportunities.

If the group I belong to is making a decision I feel is the wrong way to go, and nobody is listening to me, instead of becoming a victim, I trim tab. Who can I gain as a partner? What one idea can gain agreement on?

If I feel overwhelmed with the clutter in my space, I pause and trim tab. What difference can I make in the next 15 minutes?

If I can’t get to the ideal state today, what small steps can I take today to make it work easier for future Todd?

Plumber's Block | Examples of overcoming resistance

“Plumbers don’t have plumber’s block” says Seth Godin when he’s talking about writer’s block. His point isn’t that plumbers don’t have obstacles or resistance as Steven Pressfield calls it. It’s that many writers stop writing when they experience it, and plumbers work through it and overcome their blocks.

This spring, I experienced plumber’s block twice. Honestly, I’m a far better writer than I am a plumber, but I’m dangerously fearless in DIY projects.

Plumber’s Block #1. I replaced the shower head on a shower that hadn’t been used in years. With everything connected, I turned the water back on, but there was not water. I thought it must be the diverter, so I changed that. Still no water. Out of ideas, I called in the professionals. Turns out, the new shower head was defective. Professional experience helped me overcome this block.

Plumber’s Block #2. I replaced the washers and springs in a single handle faucet. I couldn’t get the screw that holds the handle in place to thread correctly. I lost my temper. I was convince I had stripped the threads. This time, I took a break. I needed time to cool down and think. I thought to clean the threads with some WD40 and Q-Tip. Worked like a charm.

Blocks happen everywhere. Not having running water in these two circumstances was not an option. Many times, writing is optional. Want to work through writer’s block, make not writing not an option.

The Unintended Consequences of Space Debris

An Australian sheep farmer discovered a piece of space junk in his paddock. The 3-meter hunk of metal is believed to be part of a jettisoned trunk from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX is sending a team to evaluate the situation and determine how best to remove it. The jettisoned trunk was intended to burn up in the atmosphere, or at least land in the ocean.

The SpaceX spokesman said, “You have an expected path of where things may come down and this particular debris was within that analyzed space.”

How does this mindset apply to other untended consequences for our debris?

• Do we analyze the space where the debris for our actions might land?
• How do we determine what is an acceptable path for that debris?
• Do we follow up when our debris lands in unintended spaces and offer to clean it up?

When we’re on the receiving end of unintended debris, how do we deal with it? Isn’t acceptable debris just littering we can live with? In the hiking world, the motto is “leave no trace.” If you carried it in, you carry it out (including human waste). No the case in space. More than 27,000 pieces of space junk are tracked by the Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network.

What emotional debris from other people are you still tracking? Can you ask them to clean it up? Can you let it go?