Notes from Steve

Be Valuable.

I was thinking, “What do I consider valuable in my life?”  Obviously, family and friends and everyone and everything at Iowa Specialty Hospital and Clinics, and stuff like that … but what from a material perspective do I consider valuable?  As I look around my house and think, “What would I take with me if I moved and what would I sell?”  I’d take my refrigerator magnets and stuff people made me - like quilts and crocheted blankets and furniture my dad made.  My dining room table that I bought at Homemakers Furniture?  No.

Years ago, I was talking to people and saying that being indispensable and irreplaceable is extremely valuable.  The stuff that people made for me can’t be replaced.  The blanket Grandma Ethel made for me before she died, the furniture dad made in college … the artwork created by friends … that – to me is valuable.  Old picture albums from the family?  Irreplaceable.

I want to be the equivalent of a piece of art that someone would definitely take from a burning building. What I mean by that is I want to be indispensable and irreplaceable to others in my life.  There was a Saturday Day Night Live sketch years ago and the character was Debbie Downer.  (wah wah wah)  She brought down everyone she was around because of her negative stories.  I think sometimes I get in a mood and everything that comes out of my mouth is negative and cynical.  Why would people want someone like that around?  

In order to be valuable – you have to be genuine and interested in what others have to say.  You have to be nice and kind and helpful and thoughtful … basically, someone that people want to stay around.