Marc's Musings

I’ve long been a fan of giving my year a theme. The one word or phrase helps me stay on track long after the rush of my “100 things to do” list is done.

This year’s theme is “implementation.” I love dreaming up grand plans and creating plans. But implementing them is a challenge. I always feel like I have more time to get things done.

Catching up on my RSS feeds today, I came across Chris Brogan’s concept of simplifying your goals to three words. I really like it.

So for 2009, mine are:
Strategize | Execute | Enjoy

Strategize: I love doing this so I want to keep this as a major thing I do, both for my own goals and for my clients.

Execute: I will learn to love doing this, largely because I love the results it brings.

Enjoy: I’m the kind of person that needs to give myself permission to enjoy things. Both work-related and personal.

What are your three for this year?

As seen in today’s intranet at the hospital:

Doctors’ Opinions of the Financial Bailout Plan
The allergists voted to scratch it, and the dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. The osteopaths thought we’re all being manipulated. The orthopedists issued a joint resolution.

The gastroenterologists had a gut feeling that it was not something they could stomach. The neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve, and the obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.

The ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted; the otolaryngologists wouldn’t hear of it; the pathologists said, “Over my dead body!” while the pediatricians advised, “Oh, grow up!”

The psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness; the radiologists could see right through it; and the general surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The vascular surgeons were thinking along the same vein.

The internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow; and the plastic surgeons said, “This puts a whole new face on the matter.” The podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the urologists felt the scheme wouldn’t hold water.

The anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas; and the cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say much of anything.

In the end, the proctologists, concerned that we’re already in arrears, wanted a more probing analysis.

Cale got a rootbeer kit for Christmas. So last weekend we made it!

It tastes great…especially if you can get over the enormous amounts of sugar that are used!

Cale got so into it, he went online to look up the history of rootbeer!

And the label design was his idea!

Our six year old daughter lost her first tooth tonight!!

My three year-old daughter is wonderfully precocious.

One of my favorite things about her is the way she puts on socks. Ever since she started dressing herself, she’s always matched her socks…just not with each other.

She generally matched each sock to some color in her outfit. It’s a wonderful sign of her creativity that we never saw fit to “correct.”

Well this morning, she matched her socks. To each other. She hasn’t done that in years. It was as though part of her had died.

With a sense of foreboding, I asked her why. She said she matched them because “Those people at the hop-spit-al laughed at me. I don’t like people laughing at me.”

You see, yesterday, while she visited me at work, many of you called attention to her “mix-matched” socks and laughed. You never bothered to learn that the white sock matched her white shirt; the pink one the pink flowers on her shirt. [The picture to the left was taken a couple weeks ago. She wasn't wearing that orange shirt yesterday.]

I tried explaining to her that your laughing was simply enjoying her, not making fun of her. But she doesn’t undertand that. So many of you commented on her socks and laughed, she thought all of you were laughing at her. When she explained her “missed-matched” socks, you laughed even more.

I understand your mirth. She’s really cute. She has a great vocabulary for a three year-old. And she has a knack of making people feel happy. But she didn’t understand your laughing. She just knows you laughed because her socks weren’t normal.

I hope she’ll get over it and do her own thing again. I hope the damage isn’t permanent. And I hope this will be a learning experience, teaching her to not worry about others think. To be herself. To march to the beat of her own drummer.

I hope this will teach her to be a leader, not a conformer.

That’s up to her…and us.

As for you, please think twice the next time you laugh at someone or something you don’t understand. Just because you’ve been doing something the same way for 50 years, and everyone else you know has been doing it the same way, doesn’t mean it’s the “right” way. “Different” isn’t necessarily wrong and certainly doesn’t need to be mocked.

Please remember this.

Sincerely,

One Sad Father

Today’s a big day for me, not just because it’s Epiphany. It just so happens that 37 years ago today, I was born.

Not that I had much to do with it. Dad and Mom were largely responsible. Mom says it was a very long labor. I’m sure she would’ve preferred doing something else for more than 33 hours!

I just know that, to this day, all my fingers and toes are in the right places. Pretty amazing given the migraine medication my mom was told to take during her pregnancy. Not to mention the presence of a Dalkon Shield!

The odds were certainly stacked against a healthy birth. So, I’ve been thinking a lot today about the hand of God in my life even then.

A co-worker just popped in and said, “Let me be one of 300 to say ‘Happy Birthday.’ The world is a better place because you’re in it.” All I could think of was how honored I am to be here. I’m humbled by what God’s allowed me to accomplish in the first 36 years. And I’m pretty excited about what He’s got instore for the next hundred or so.

And I love that He chose to have me be born on Epiphany. On this day, we celebrate God’s revelation of His incarnate son, Jesus, to the Magi. It would’ve been enough if He’d just come for the Jewish people. But He was so excited, He couldn’t wait to get the word out! So the first leaders to worhsip Jesus were really smart goyim from a long way away.

I want my life to be like that. I want to be used by God to help really smart leaders see His reality in tangible ways in their lives.

And, being born today, I like to think He wants that for me too.