Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Thick of Thin Things Week –


I have always felt one of my management weakness’ was ability to too easily get caught up in the thick of thin things. Life just comes at me like a conveyor belt of tasks, duties, priorities, clutter, wild goose chases, personal goals, useless activities, distractions as well as a few really important issues. Too often in the jumble of the day I can pick up the useless distraction and let it override the really important things that need to be done. Items don’t always come marked with their appropriate priority designation so in the rush of daily demands it’s sometimes hard to order things correctly and I often mislabel priorities due to my laziness or lack of vision. This week seem to be one of those where I was so busy all the time but didn’t feel much progress. Does anybody else feel that they would like to poke their head above the avalanche of daily “to do’s”, take a big breath, and figure out what is really important and have the energy to tackle those key activities? I felt like that this week.

Last Sunday – Do I visit with a recently divorced man in the ward to provide some support or go to the Stake Priesthood meeting?

Monday – spend time with Danica’s family visiting the house or study for my Continuing Education (CE) test so I can keep my insurance license?

Tuesday – Go to a client seminar with a very well healed new prospective client or go to my required Employment meeting?

Wednesday – Fulfill my assignment at the temple or catch up on my evening cold calls, or sit in on a financial seminar offered by major carrier?

Thursday – Should I fly to Utah for one meeting and hope for some future business or stay at home and take care of existing clients?

Friday – Tackle client problems from a week of neglect, take the CE test which I haven’t prepared for, prepare for a huge presentation scheduled next week, go with mom to a special workshop, dinner, date????

So on Saturday, I decided to relax which meant a nice Saturday agenda of a long social bike ride with mom in the morning, business cold calls, diving at the aquarium (I was in a swirl of Bamboo Sharks – wild experience), clean the kitchen, nap, visit the Dragon Boat Races in Denver, host a bar-b-que for Danica’s family with the missionaries and a part member family, that visited until 10:30 pm.

No wonder I feel exhausted today. I need a giant filter to screen out the silly and useless and just keep the important stuff, but then that wouldn’t be much of a colorful and fun life, maybe the thick of thin things isn’t all bad.

4 comments:

b-ryce said...

I agreed with the whole thing, except for the part where you talked about your "laziness". LOL. That part was a lie. I don't think you have a lazy bone in your body.

You and mom are so busy I can't believe it. You have so much going on. Good luck with your juggling.

Tracy Hogan said...

Yah but I sure like it when you pick me. That's always the right choice :)

Celeste said...

Wow dad, no wonder you didn't call me on my birthday. I understand now.

Mikidees said...

Who said after your kids leave the house stuff slws down? We are sad we couldnt join you at the races. But I'm glad you guys had fun.