The Books of Life

Remember when everything you had to do was on your “to do list”? Yesterday I took an inventory of how many places I keep my important tasks and information. On my hip I keep a blackberry with all contacts and calendar functions. In my left rear pocket I keep a small At-A-Glance fine diary, which for the past 20 years I get every October by visiting Staples to buy the new year’s book. Then I have my Franklin Covey desk book that for 8 years has been the bible, and still claims to be the most important book of my life. I think the fact that it has a zipper allows it to boast its importance over my other hardcopy volumes.

Then there is my full assortment of exchange scheduled events that tie into my core management software used to run the business. Whew! Of course there is also the host of colored sticky notes for really important things to be done, along with my wife’s ripped scrap paper notes that actually are more critical than anything else. Oh, I forgot that my Acura navigation system also has a calendar system built in for those moments when I am really bored waiting outside a store for my family. I love to program those alerts that mean nothing just to watch their faces when they come up.

You do have to wonder what all the technology has done to keep us on time and on track. My take is that it has allowed us to schedule more, stress more, and at the end of the day, we miss more, since our margin for error has been reduced to zero. On the other hand we sure feel important when an event as simple as meeting with my son’s teacher comes up 6 times in 6 places. So does the dentist appointment and every other event in life that we rather not think about until the time has come.

My mother had it right. She kept a list of essentials that she shopped with, and kept everything else that was important to her in her head. A simple life, with plenty of time to get where she had to go, and more importantly, plenty of time to enjoy herself when she got there.

So what do I dream about as I get close to retirement? A belt that holds nothing except my pants up, and a scrap of paper to remind me why I just went out shopping. I hope that everything and everyone I have to think about will be in my mind, from the moment I wake up to the seconds before I go to sleep at night.

Is there a piece of paper in your life? Write down the 10 most important people in your life and carry that little paper with you. Wear it down, crumple it up, and re-write it every once in a while. It’s all you need.

- Larry