I’ve been working for a few days on a draft of an introduction to strategic planning for 2010. I felt self-inflicted pressure to get it finished today.
My son got up early this morning and wanted to make adventure badges and wanted to know what adventures we were going to do today.
Didn’t you know you did adventures? Ooooh, yes. Hearty adventures.
Anyway, that’s what we’ve been doing. Later we’re going to pick up treats for his teachers and therapists and make cards for them, too. And, just maybe, play a little pinball.
So, in lieu of strategic planning, I’ll point you toward a collection of 37 inspirational videos Jonathan Fields put together over at his site – some are rather famous, some aren’t, some feature language you may not like, most don’t. Mileage varies. You’ve been warned.
Yesterday, my son told me there would be no tickling in the house for one day. I had been warned. These things matter.
Have you learned to separate the truly important from the merely urgent?
My favorite of the 37 from Jonathan’s blog was this one featuring people you and I have never met.
What moves you? What makes you put down your pencil? What reminds you why you pick the pencil back up?
Back to the seriously silly business of adventures. Things are looking Up. Hope they are for you as well.
UPDATE: I continue to marvel a bit at the boy and his resilience in the comments.
Dammit, Tim, I’m trying to do some work, here.
Thanks for sharing, and a truly wonderful post. Wise words. I need to read this about once a week.
Thanks, Alex – odd thing was – we hadn’t watched the movie Up in maybe three or four weeks. All of a sudden he wakes up this morning around 5, and he’s an adventurer. And we’d had this awful day yesterday involving yelling and crying and very disgusting messes about which I won’t elaborate … except to say there may be no greater gift than resilience.
I’m a quite person. Typically don’t say much and Alex already said what needed to be said. But I wanted to say thank you for reminding us of what’s important and to think of the things that move you to but down the pencil.
I’m oftentimes guilty of favoring the urgent over the truly important. But I am evolving, I try to catch this error as soon as I realize it. Life is short to neglect what truly counts. 🙂
Incredibly powerful video, Tim. I loved it and got angry about it at the same time. Loved it because how much more touching can you get? Angry because so few people count the costs of our military adventurism, which don’t even begin to end with fatality counts and numbers of wounded.
But YOUR message came through loud and clear. Most of us AREN’T on deployment, but risk missing as much of our kids childhoods as those who are. How many of us count are blessings and are truly present for those golden moments with the kids?
Thanks
-Jeff