... contracts received from Altair and WotF ...
June 24, 1999
5:16 a.m.
Call me wierd. That's okay. But have a personal mission statement--have had for some time, now. I wrote this version after reading Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Now, I know there are folks that scoff at this type of thing, but it works for me. It keeps me focused. It helps me to remember how I want to order my life, and occaisionally, it pays good dividends. Take yesterday, for instance. I was in the middle of a meeting of really good people, each pushing a series of agendas which are all loosely focused on the project I'm working on. I was starting to get antsy because each person was pulling the discussion away from the main goal of the group, which made for a soupy understanding all around. I could feel frustration rising inside. So, I kicked back, and pulled my planner to my lap (yes, I have a planner, another sign of a guy whose had his management labotomy). I paged back to my goals section and scanned my personal mission statement. I focued on the parts that said I valued self-control, and that I treated everyone else as my superior. That I have something to learn from everyone. That I assume positive motivations from others. It set me into the right frame of mind to attack this issue. But most importantly, it kept me from trying to manhandle the meeting, thereby making it even more dysfunctional. Instead, I made a few calm statements that reminded folks why they were here, framed around the tool that we're trying to develop. Next thing you know, the meeting was humming again--not that I'm claiming total responsibility for that. These are good people, you know? I think writing is like that, too. It's so easy to lose focus of what you're doing. When you're first starting out, you don't really have anything to focus on. So the goal is to just press forward. Eventually a set of goals and processes work out for you. But now that I've been here a little while, I find the biggest problem I have is diversion and focus. I have a lot of stories in work, and goals to be met. Sometimes I let them pull me in all sorts of different ways. The goal then, becomes to remove clutter. To allow myself an environment where I can focus. To order my life so that I can be successful. Or, as my mission statement says, to judge myself not by how rapidly I succeed, but instead by the direction I'm heading.   Have a good one.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"There are no bad feelings. Just bad reactions." Unknown |
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