My furnace has been out since the weekend. The furnace people have been trying to fix it, thought it was fixed and then last night it broke again. So I’m wearing a lot of clothes and a stocking cap around the house. I’m thankful that it’s not really cold outside but it still is a pain. It helps me to put things in perspective though. I was telling Casey my sad news on Monday and she said their furnace went out in the arctic blast in January. Ok, my situation is really not that bad then. I often think of the quote : “I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”.
Front of mind concerns are like the squeaky wheel. I think one of the hardest things for me to do is truly prioritize the most important things in my life and not allow smaller (sometimes important but usually not) issues to deter my larger vision and mission. We talk about this in our standards about Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics being the best place to practice, work and receive care. However, if we get caught up in drama (either our own or others*), we are not focused on our goals. My dad (driver’s ed teacher) always told us to keep our eyes on the road. If we focus on the cars coming towards us in the other lane, we have a tendency to veer into that lane.
As we grow and evolve, our focus is going to be required more now than ever before. Internalizing this -- I have to stop checking my phone. I have to stop constantly watching the news … I have to stop living vicariously through other people’s drama (reality TV and hockey fights). Most importantly I have to focus on my priorities and understand and appreciate, both professionally and personally, why do I do what I do? What is most significant and why? Because, when we divert our attention and focus, our priorities suffer.
*friends went to a hockey game this weekend in Des Moines. I asked them how it was and they were somewhat dismayed by the lack of fights on the ice. I’m reminded of the story about someone who went to fight and a hockey game broke out. Drama is exciting.
