Life is filled with joy, challenges, and wonder; it helps to have a personal guide to help navigate the way. What have you found to give you inspiration, provide insight, and help you with the heavy tasks of life?
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I had an accumulation of clippings, books, and supplies that had been untouched. They moved from one state to another with me; they moved from employment to retirement with me, and then they waited for some sort of final disposition.
Finally opening a folder that I’d kept in my desk at work, I found some office supplies, three 34¢ stamps, and some notes I’d written, long ago. I could see that the office supplies – paper clips, rubber bands and pencils – are still useful today. A quick check showed that the postage was used from January 2001 to June 2002. And as for the notes? They were quotations scribbled by me from various sources.
Reading the words years later, I realized that I’d used them as a guide. They provided counsel, patience, and a way to understand the bigger picture. They helped me see beyond the day-to-day interactions and routines. For me they held hope – la esperanza. It surprised me to see how much I relied on those words to cope in the work world and how they have become a part of me – how I think and act.
Work was a demanding dynamic place – lots of people (from adolescents to adults), lots of tasks and activity, lots of rules and procedures to be follow amid ongoing interactions, reports, emotions, crises, and decisions that had to be made. And above all of that, there was my constant concern for everyone’s safety.
As the leader in this setting, I wanted to ensure a safe environment, I wanted to ‘get the job done’ – to accomplish what was required of me per my job description – and I wanted to do this with a sense of respect. It was important to me to recognize the humanity in each person regardless of status, age, or whether we were in agreement, or not. My personal goals were simple: do my job, be honest, and be fair.
Reading the notes now, outside the world of work, feels like a reunion with my old friend – my guide. The words I’d written as reminders then are still applicable in today’s world. I was surprised to see how advice meant for the fast-paced office of a middle school administrator is just as useful in other settings. Now I see their value in today’s tech workspaces, in remote home offices, in schools, and even for those like me, who are no longer active in the work world.
Here are my notes:
- Dionysius the Elder – “Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent”
- “Start with the end in mind.” Stephen Covey in ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’
- “Blessed are the flexible, they shall not be bent out of shape” Modern Proverb
- “Seek first to understand; then to be understood.” – Stephen Covey
- “Be kind – for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle” – attributed to Ian MacLaren
- “I don’t like big people telling me what to do” – Isaiah M., age 3
- “Life’s a ball – if only you know it.” – Lyrics by Lee Adams
- “I am thankful to be working with God, to be in my right place, to be doing my right work.” – Daily Word February 11, 1986
