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Unchanging Fortunes
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. — Max Ehrmann, The Desiderata When I first read this, I thought it was a little strange that we needed reminding to keep interested in our careers. I mean for most people, myself included, it takes a bit of reminding to prevent us from thinking about ourselves. As my friend Dan once joked, “I’m not much but I’m all I think about!” But looking more carefully at what Max wrote, perhaps it was intended as a warning. Perhaps he recognized that comparison is the instigator of discontent. Instead of worrying about…
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Different Is Good
In a presidential election year, a year when we have been bombarded with racially-charged national tragedies, the word diversity has gotten a lot of air time. It is established in our lexicon. The meaning shifts however when we set aside political agendas to consider the merits of diversity on a personal level. Diversity of thought. In this context, diversity simply means different. Existing in a state of unlikeness or of being different from something or someone can trigger all kinds of responses. Fear or curiosity. Attraction or repulsion. But before we can truly encounter and engage the nature of someone’s otherness, we are obliged to concede on one essential point…the possibility…that we don’t know everything. A…
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Upsiders
There is a story told of an old farmer and the series of events that come to pass in his life. His horse runs away. His horse returns…bringing with it a dozen wild horses. His son is thrown while breaking the wild horses injuring his arm. A war breaks out, and his son is exempt from duty because of his broken limb. Back and forth it goes. At each point in the story, the villagers congratulate or console the farmer based on his revised circumstances saying, “oh, how wonderful” or “oh, such terrible news” in turn. And each time, the farmer sagely responds “perhaps”. Like March weather in the Midwest, our life circumstances are often…
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Chaos Theory
Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, you’ve heard of the chaos theory? No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractions? — Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park Entering Barnes and Noble, beyond the familiar fragrance of Veranda Blend and 10′ tall NOOK display, you’ll notice a table of books aimed at helping their readers improve. Regardless of the scope of improvement, personal or professional, most of these books have one thing in common–they involve a plan. Building a home requires a blueprint. Running a project involves a work plan. As students, we were coached on the Five Ps–prior planning prevents poor performance. Having a plan gives us a roadmap for the eventual completion of complex or challenging activity…
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This Too Shall Pass
My friend hurt his back a couple of days ago. He had breezed through a tough workout at the gym and was doing some simple task at home when he “tweaked” his back. In the course of our conversation, I offered my sympathy and reminded him that the pain was “only temporary”. Everything is after all. Even good stuff. The temporary nature of everything is one of those proverbial good news/bad news things. Good news, it’s only temporary! Bad news…it’s only temporary. As a culture, we place considerable value on permanence. We prize owning over leasing…tenure over annually renewable contracts. We even prefer our best friends to be forever. We approach new or…
