Alright, let me tell you about something that happened the other day. It really made me think about that Five of Wands energy, you know? Not in a big, dramatic way, but just… daily life stuff.
The Project Kick-off Mess
So, we had this meeting scheduled. Supposed to be a simple kick-off for a small internal project. Nothing major, just getting ideas on the table. I went in thinking, okay, half hour, maybe forty-five minutes, tops. We’d brainstorm, assign a few initial tasks, done.
Boy, was I wrong.
It started okay. John, the team lead, laid out the basic goal. Then he opened the floor. And that’s when it kinda fell apart. Not in a nasty way, mind you. More like… everyone suddenly had the BEST idea, and they all needed to share it RIGHT NOW.
- Sarah jumped in first, talking about a tech stack she preferred.
- Before she finished, Mike interrupted, saying that wouldn’t scale and pitched his own approach.
- Then Lisa cut Mike off, worried about the user interface aspect, completely changing the subject.
- David tried to bring it back to the original goal, but his voice got drowned out.
It was just… noise. A lot of talking, very little listening. Everyone was waving their metaphorical sticks around, trying to make their point heard above the others. Felt like watching kids wrestle – lots of energy, not much direction. You could feel the tension, but it wasn’t real anger, more like competitive energy bouncing off the walls.
Sitting Back and Watching
Honestly, for a minute, I tried to jump in myself. I had a couple of thoughts I wanted to share. But it was like trying to get a word in during a shouting match. Pointless. So, I just kinda leaned back in my chair.
I started just observing. Watching the dynamics. Who was aligning with whom, who was just talking to talk, who actually had a point buried under all the enthusiasm. It was fascinating, in a frustrating sort of way. I grabbed my notepad and started jotting down the core ideas I could pick out from the chaos, ignoring the delivery.
It really felt like that card. All sticks, no clear winner, just a scramble.
The Aftermath
Eventually, the meeting time ran out. We hadn’t actually decided on anything concrete. John looked a bit frazzled. He basically said, “Okay, uh… send me your ideas in writing,” and ended the call.
Walking away from my desk afterwards, I felt that Five of Wands vibe strongly. It wasn’t a disaster. Nobody got hurt feelings, I don’t think. But it was definitely unproductive conflict. A clash of ideas and egos that didn’t really move us forward. Just a lot of sparring practice, maybe? We’ll see if the written ideas bring more clarity. But yeah, that was my little real-life Five of Wands moment this week.
