Adversity
I don’t know of anyone who would choose pain or discomfort versus ease or effortless. Actually, the truth about me is, the reason I am so organized or anal as my children would say is to avoid the pain associated with forgetting to do something. Using my planner, planning my day, week, month and year gives me the illusion that I am in control. It helps me know what is going on all the time and gives me a very clear picture about what my target is in each area of life.
Mary and I do annual and monthly planning sessions. Our daughter calls these meetings our board meetings. We started this practice on our honeymoon. Because of this consistent activity, I can look back and track what our targets have been for every year of our married life together and before that as a single man.
When Tricia was a freshman at the University of Alabama I received her first quarter reports and they weren’t anything close to her potential as a student. After the shock wore off, we talked. During that conversation I could tell she was overwhelmed. New people, new teachers, new class locations, pledge ship in a sorority etc. etc. After speaking with her I wanted to take immediate action. Lucky for both of us she was having a fall parent’s event soon and I was invited. After arriving Friday evening and getting acclimated we decided to have breakfast and get to heart of her concerns.
We initially discussed what to eliminate as a way to get control and enjoy the rewards of success. My solution and suggestion was organizing for success! After breakfast we went to the local office supply company and picked up a Day-Timer and all the filler’s for each week and month for the rest of the year. We then proceeded to fill in the syllabus due dates from each of her classes and enter them in her calendar. We entered every football game, every social event and everything in her life. After I showed her how to use this tool to manage her life she then spent the time to fill in all the important names in her phone book in pencil. In pencil! Wow, that seems like a long time ago.
Today, Tricia is a master at time management. She immediately took the tools of the Day-Timer and implemented them in her everyday life. This success for Tricia came out of a crisis. Out of adversity she found her potential and got the confidence to do even more. As I observe her today as a mother and friend and sister and daughter I see how she has used this experience of failure to be successful.
I often times smile as I reflect and observe a mother of two who records photograph’s of us on Facebook before I reach the car. She manages her finances and busy social calendar with the precision of a surgeon preforming a lengthily and intricate operation.
Tricia took adversity and became a master of her future…..
