Challenges

Well, 7 days again. I don't know if enough doesn't happen in my life or I just can't seem to write in this blog. I know the ADD is a factor in this, I'm just not sure how much. In the "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Lazy" book I'm reading, I've reached a section where I need to examine my life, try to plan for it, then plan again if I fail to achieve my goals. The first process I need to do is to keep a journal for two weeks of what I do and how much time it takes me to do it. That sounds easy, but I have to remember to journal. I'm going to start the journal this Sunday. We'll see how it goes.

They also recommend I get a Life Coach. I'd like to do that, but financially, it's just not feasible right now. Also, it would have to be a phone coach, as I don't know of any coaches here in Iowa. There may be some, but not in my area. Once I get through this bankruptcy, I re-asses my position. Until then, I have to do it on my own.

We had a good leadership development day here in the Northeast District. They had a choice of three presentations, although you could only attend two due to time limitations. I attended one on using social media and other internet resources to promote your church and mission. It was great. The presenter had a great cheat sheet and PowerPoint presentation. I emailed him yesterday and he sent me the presentation. It was well worth attending. The second presentation was on evangelism and the importance of personal evangelism. Lots of good information there too. She passed out a set of foils on her presentation.

Things get interesting today, as I start analyzing the evaluation sheets. I'll get some basic statistics off of them and also consolidate the comments and write up an executive summary for the Leadership Development Team. I'll be interested to see what the attendees thought of the presentations.

Can you say "Early!"

Once again I'm trying my get up early gig. Got up at 5 today. Processed a ton of information, designed a couple of forms, went through all my email and put this coming Sunday's hymns on my Sansa.Overall I had a very profitable early morning. Now I was looking through Outlook and saw that I could compress my data files. I told it to do it and I'm still waiting for it to finish. Oh well, the email will wait 'till it's done.

Never tell Outlook to delete your expired items. I had mine set that way and when the auto archive ran, it deleted the emails and didn't archive any. There go some passwords and links. Oh well, learn by doing.

Well, it's now Tuesday and I got up at 7. Just couldn't get the engine to fire. Still, I've gotten a fair amount of work done so far. I'll have to see what I do for the rest of the day.

Committment vs Follow-Through

I am committed to writing in this blog every day. Unfortunately my follow-through has been lacking. It's not that I don't have time to write. In some cases, it's just the simple fact that I didn't have anything to write about. On the other hand, I do have things I could write about, but am uncertain if I should be sharing those thoughts or experiences. Part of it is the ADD. I have a real problem with self-worth, and every time things don't go right I tend to pull into my shell a little more. Plus I don't know if anyone will or wants to read my blog. I have a couple of people that read it, but I never receive any feedback. So, once again I will try to do better in the future and be more regular in my posting things here.

There's one word I almost never use, unless I'm talking to myself. It's a common word and a lot of people use it, but I tend to be a people pleaser, so I almost never say it. That word is "NO." Example: I have been asked to be on many committees. My current list of things I said "YES" to is: Chair of the S/PPRC committee, Chair of Outreach Committee (Missions), on the district Leadership committee, on the district Lay Development committee, School for Lay Ministries Representative to the District Council, I'm the District Statistician, I create the evaluation and registration sheets for several committee's projects and I do the analysis on those evaluation sheets. Yes, I definitely need to add "NO" to my vocabulary.

Interesting (to me) revelations

As you know by now, I am ADHD. I follow several ADHD blogs and an currently reading the book "You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?" The first third of the book has been a lot of theoretical information and some pointers for those who are newly ADHD diagnosed. Well, I've crossed the hump according to the authors. The rest of the book is about how to deal with your ADHD. The first pages I read were about the stages of discovery after you're diagnosed with ADHD. It's very similar to the stages of dieing. It was quite eye opening and I discovered after some reflection that I have been is several of those stages at once. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I'll post any insights I get while reading the book.

I really believe it's time to get out of Afghanistan. The rising suicide rate among soldiers, this latest episode of the soldier killing those civilians point in that direction. The Afghans don't want us there. The main ones receiving benefits are those in the corrupt government. The women of Afghanistan have benefited greatly from the Taliban being kicked out of control, but I fear for their safety if they should return to power. There's not easy solution there. Guess I need to pray more about it.

WARNING! RANT AHEAD!

I am tired of people complaining about red light cameras and speed cameras. If you're speeding and red light running, then you're a criminal. I don't worry about the cameras because I drive the speed limit and don't run red lights except when I'm in an ADHD moment. So what if it makes money for the cities that use the cameras? You want to speed you pay the price. If everybody obeyed the speed limit and didn't run red lights then the cameras would go away. Go ahead, complain about your self imposed tax. As for me, I say the more the merrier.

Some thoughts on today

Have you ever seen that cartoon showing an old man or woman who's saying "What's going on? What the hell is going on!?" I can relate to them. If I don't plan carefully for my day, I'm like a dangling participle, just hanging there and unable to relate. Sometimes my carefully planned day goes Crazy Eddie because on an unexpected bill or phone call that I need to do something about. The planning I did eventually helps me get back on track, but for a little while my life is like a web spun by a psychotic spider. Ever had days like that? Thanks to ADHD they occur all too often.

I see that yesterday was Super Tuesday. I didn't watch the results but it appears that the situation is normal. One man doesn't clinch the nomination and another scores bigger that expected victories. I don't pay a lot of attention to the campaigns because I won't be able to vote again until the presidential election comes around. So I just nibble the edges and take everything said with a grain of salt. I did think though, that Obama is campaigning on TV already. His speaking yesterday should be counted as a campaign speech and not another infomercial.

Well, I get my taxes done today. I have to file amended returns for 2010 because of an error in 2009. That puts a level of uncertainty into what I have to do to correct the taxes. I have to do it before I do this year's taxes so that is filed squarely.

Well, have a good day and remember that that lobster you're about to eat was cooked alive!