My first job out of college was at a startup. One of the managers shared a lightbulb moment. (In the comics when a character gets a great insight, the artist draws a little lightbulb.) As a teenager this manager realized that:
"There wasn't anything I couldn't do, but I couldn't do it all."
I've been doing early morning planning with my daughters for two months now. We've talked about this principle several times. They want to play and read and use the computer and ....
Some times they'll get upset when they don't get to do something they have their heart set on. I'll talk with them about the choices they've made through the day. Maybe they read for a couple hours and played with their sister. Well now that it time to go to bed they don't have time to watch television.
At a concious level they get it. Sometimes they still find it frustrating that they can't do everything.
I have to admit, to an extent I'm also still learning the same lesson.
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Technorati tags: life, balance, life balance
3 comments:
I don't know if this is what you (or your manager) meant but at this late stage in my life, I'm finally realizing delegation is one of the most important skills I can have. Like you said, I CAN do all kind of things but maybe I shouldn't try to do them all. (e.g.: all the web development or the kitchen remodeling I try to do myself.)
I hope I can teach my kids this too.
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"... I CAN do all kind of things but maybe I shouldn't try to do them all."
Ha! We recently had a similar incident. I tried to repair a leaky shower. I spent a couple hours on it, two different times. But I was missing something. Finally I broke down and my wife hired a plumber. There was just one little thing I hadn't done!
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