Friday, January 21, 2011

Things To Do...

     I create "Lists of things to do" because I want a reason to get up in the morning and it is an old habit from my school teaching days.  If we didn't have a list the class would become chaotic and the kids would run amok.  You couldn't just put down three things to do either, you had to have a plan.  I found it best to also have an alternative plan.  What if everything went wrong?  This "things to do list" was to accomplish a goal, probably not much different from a coach wanting to win a basketball game.
    When I went into construction my list making skills were the key to my success.  The reality of business, if you are lucky, is that an employee will work for you about an hour in a day.  He is first working for himself to earn his wages, then the government for all the taxes involved and less than an hour a day belongs to the owner of the company.  Any fifteen minute stumble, any loss of time, any errors on the job always comes out of the bosses time.  You learn quickly to develop a lesson plan and deal with contingencies or you go out of business.
     Cancer did not stop this process in me.  In fact it become even more important.  You can't create a list that is impossible to do, that too is a recipe for failure.  Reasonable things that will off a measure of success and accomplishment are important.  At my sickest my list became smallest but it was always there, my goals for the day.  I think people require a sense of accomplishment, a reason to be, a reason to get up in the morning.  There are things to do.
Facebook Banned Me! I told that story yesterday!
    

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you on goals. My husband would comment negatively when I talked about goals, but after some discussion, it was clear his goals were just too loftly to sense any feeling of accomplishment within a one or two year time frame. That's just too long to wait. I have a few long range goals, but most on my list are daily or monthly ones, as it is indeed such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction when I have accomplished them. Trips are a wonderful hassle for me. I always have plan b and c, and if for some reason these don't pan out, I'm pretty efficient at pulling another plan out of my head on a minutes notice. We have never had a disappointing trip. Reading your posts is inspirational. You are such a positive individual and great friend.

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