Have you ever been disappointed at not reaching your goal but somehow found that you were delighted with the outcome anyway?
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?
— Robert Browning
We recently experienced an extraordinary week of rain here in sunny California. And when the weather forecasters declared an end to the onslaught, I decided to indulge in the luxury of taking my car to the carwash. I had an hour to wait so I went for a walk on the river trail. My goal: To the bridge and back.
Disappointment
I didn’t get as far as I expected. At the half hour mark, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bridge, I pushed on… and then on some more… but the bridge continued to hide “just around the bend.” With time ticking, I realized I wasn’t going to get to the bridge – and, disappointed that I’d missed my goal, I reluctantly turned and double-timed it back to the carwash where my clean car awaited me.
I guess it’s human nature to be disappointed when we don’t get as far as we expected. I remember when, back in my corporate days as a sales manager, one of my rookie sales people aimed to be “Top Sales Leader of the Year”. He really put his heart and soul into it. He came in second.
That’s when it pays to remember: Continue reading » Delight over a Missed Goal
Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.
— Elizabeth I
If we’re lucky, aging is a learning process. We all age, but we don’t all learn. Sometimes our ability to learn is determined by our willingness to see things in a new light.
All of us eventually face the decline and death of our parents. My mother died of Alzheimer’s in 2005. As you are probably aware if you are a frequent reader of this blog, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in December of last year. In addition to Alzheimer’s, Dad has also been diagnosed with bipolar disease. The health care professionals involved in his care reached this diagnosis partially based on Continue reading » The Consequences of Keeping Secrets
What do you do when procrastination is PLAGUING you?
In three of my recent posts I explored various topics surrounding procrastination – Have Fun NOW, The Yes… Damn Effect, and Just Git-R-Done. In this post I will grapple with my own inclination to procrastinate.
A short while back I was suffering from terminal procrastination. I decided at the time to draw myself a motivational picture depicting a reward for finishing. I drew this little caricature of myself in a hammock on a desert island, enjoying the satisfaction of being done with my duties.
— Roy Blumenthal
I, Ellie, have decided that procrastination isn’t going to keep me down. I’m declaring a truce with my To-Do List. I’m going to shift from procrastination to productivity.
I have my ways… For instance, in the past I often tagged my To-Do List with the title: Wish-It-Were-Done. Why? Because one day, when I was resisting doing my expense report, I sighed “Gee I wish this were done!” And that simple thought shifted my emotional state from discouraged to motivated. I subsequently whipped out the expense report in record time. I also had the good sense to recognize that I’d stumbled upon a good idea: rename that darned list to Wish-It-Were-Done-List! It’s time for me to do so again.
Here are some other techniques that have worked for me in the past… Continue reading » Ellie Wishes It Were Done!
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
— Flora Whittemore
I describe myself as a recovering Catholic, though I’m never sure exactly what that means. For the first 20 or so years of my life, I was a devoted Catholic. As a matter of fact, I knew almost nothing about any other Christian denomination. Having been the only “goy” family in the neighborhood, I knew that there were Catholics and Jews, and on a practical level that was all I knew.
I’d been baptized shortly (minutes) after I was born, so that if, heaven forbid, I were to die, at least I wouldn’t end up in limbo. (At the time, limbo wasn’t a dance, it was where unbaptized babies went if they died. They could never leave limbo because they didn’t have the appropriate “certification” by the Church to go to heaven, but at least they wouldn’t Continue reading » Help Me, I Think I’m Turning Into My Mother
 photo credit: psdIn this wintery month of February, what can you pause to celebrate?
Well, if you expected this to be another post about procrastination then you may be surprised to learn that, ironically, I’ve postponed it – I’d forgotten about Valentine’s Day and couldn’t let the holiday go by without this wee bit of a hurrah. More on procrastination is ready to roll, just not today, nor tomorrow either. Watch for it… and in the meantime, let’s celebrate February!
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
— Albert Camus
February’s upon us… and this 2010 version of the second month roared in with the winter madness of an El Nino year – we’ve endured blizzards, rainstorms, floods and mudslides, just to name a few of the weather challenges so far. It’s been a cold, cold winter since the exuberance of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza and New Years Day. Some (many?) among us are feeling the winter doldrums. While we wait for spring to be sprung, we need something to Continue reading » What’s to Celebrate? February, of Course!
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