We're All Busy

I once heard that when we tell others how busy we are, especially when we use it as an excuse for not doing something, we are insinuating that others aren't busy. The one thing that seems to be most time consuming in my life is following up with people who didn't respond to the first request for a response. It is especially frustrating when the person's response is needed before I can move forward on an important project.



Some things to keep in mind:

• Everyone is busy in one way or another although maybe not always with the most important things


• Everyone seems to find time to do the things they really want to do


• The busiest people, more often than not, are the ones who get most done (maybe because they don't waste time and energy telling others how busy they are!)


• It is courteous and polite and respectful of other people's time when one responds to an email or phone message within 24 hours


• Being on time to meetings is respectful. In case no one else is there to appreciate your punctuality, always carry reading and writing material. It will be amazing how much one can accomplish while waiting!

How we spend the 24 hours allotted to each of us each day defines who we are and ultimately our potential to meet the goals we set for ourselves and what we accomplish. It's really not about how busy we are.

Spiritual Leaders Act on Inspiration

Superintendent Hector Montenegro was the keynote speaker for the UABE (Utah Assn. for Bilingual Education) Conference on October 12th and 13th. He definitely ranks as one of my top ten inspirational speakers.

Yet, I left the conference feeling quite discouraged..and even depressed. I have been doing some pondering as to understand why. I believe I've come to one of the key reasons.

It has been said, “Our feelings were given us to excite to action, and when they end in themselves, they are cherished to no good purpose” (Daniel Keyte Sandford, in The International Dictionary of Thoughts, comp. John P. Bradley, Leo F. Daniels, Thomas C. Jones, Chicago: J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co., 1969, p. 291). This means that once we have felt something, we must act in order to hold on to those feelings we experience. As C. S. Lewis said, “The more often [a person] feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel” (The Screwtape Letters, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1982, p. 61).

No matter how inspired people were at the conference, things will stay the same if people don't ask themselves, "How am I going to apply within my 'circle of influence' what I learned from Mr. Montenegro? " We have a tendency to go to conferences, take good notes and get inspired, and then fail to implement what we learned because:

• We make up excuses as to why it won't work in our situation
• We think about all the people who weren't there who should have been there to hear the message
• We complain about the fact that our leaders aren't a Hector Montenegro
• We just forget

....and the result being that we forget what we felt....and thus, things stay the same.

Spiritual leaders do more than attend a conference, take good notes, and get inspired. They leave a conference committed to implement at least one new idea/concept within their "circle of influence"----in spite of all the resistance and obstacles that they may encounter.