assessment
I've never had much luck when it comes to using this time of year, as so many do, to take stock, review the year just ending or think in any significant way about what's to come with a fresh page on a newly printed calendar. The reasons for this are simple: WaterShapes exists in service to professionals who return the favor by
Have you ever turned down a client who really wanted to work with you and you alone? It's a hard thing to do, which is why most of us have found ourselves at one time or another saying "yes" despite the fact that we believe something the clients want simply cannot be done or, more important, that we've developed serious doubts about them. Just at that point where we really need to sit them down and tell them to go away, many times we'll freeze - and here's the usual reason why: "If I tell them 'no,' then they'll just get someone else to do it and I'll lose the job!" Giving in to this fear of losing a project and letting apprehension guide our decisions in place of any faith we might have in our common sense or experience is
Have you ever turned down a client who really wanted to work with you and you alone? It's a hard thing to do, which is why most of us have found ourselves at one time or another saying "yes" despite the fact that we believe something the clients want simply cannot be done or, more important, that we've developed serious doubts about them. Just at that point where we really need to sit them down and tell them to go away, many times we'll freeze - and here's the usual reason why: "If I tell them 'no,' then they'll just get someone else to do it and I'll lose the job!" Giving in to this fear of losing a project and letting apprehension guide our decisions in place of any faith we might have in our common sense or experience is
Even watershapers who don't perform daily tests of water quality in the systems they design and/or build will benefit from being familiar with the various methods available for water analysis, says Michael Gardner of Taylor Technologies. Such knowledge, he notes, helps in starting up new systems, formulating chemical-treatment regimens, calibrating automatic controllers or simply educating those who'll care for the watershapes you create.
The Delicate Art of Dancing with Porcupines by Bob Phillips (Regal Books, 1989) may have one of the most unusual titles I've ever seen, but fortunately the quirky name didn't stop from picking it up several years ago. At this point, I've read it multiple times and have taken to presenting it quite often as a gift to friends and associates. I like it so well myself because the text applies in practical and profound ways to my work as a watershape designer. I share it with others because it has had something to say about every aspect of my life and can do the same for them, too. A widely published marriage and family counselor, Phillips is best known for this small book (just 160 pages) in which he examines in wonderfully clear and concise detail what he calls "social style." The idea is that people generally fall into categories having to do with