Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Jory DesJardins: What Do You Mean, 'We'll See?'

I had to make note of this blog posting because it talks about two types of people: those who are always on time, and those who bail from committments without so much as an apology.

I've always been one of those people who, at the latest, is on time. Being a minute late to anything would kill me. As she points out, that's a difficult way to be when you're invited to a party which starts at 8pm, because you'll probably be the only person there for the first half hour.

But later in the posting, she says this, which struck a nerve:

I went to a seminar a few years back for people interested in taking on enormously ambitious projects. The instructor made a brilliant distinction. "I really don't care what you feel like doing," she said. She was in the midst of a family emergency and she didn't want to be there with us that day, "But I am committed to being here," she said. I thought of all of the grand plans I've had in my life--the novels, the businesses, the trips with friends and family--and wondered why most of them had never happened. They didn't because, at some point in the planning process I didn't feel like doing something. We don't always feel like making our lives better, but if we are committed to that outcome, we do what we need to anyway.

"It doesn't matter what you feel like doing." That's one's a keeper.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 9:22 AM