What Counts?

For variable periods, we all can “go through the motions” and slough through meeting minimum expectations – just doing enough to prevent us from missing an advance to the next grade or getting fired. 

Unfortunately, it can’t last indefinitely.  In fact, minimal doesn’t really “count”.  There’s “minimal” expectations and there’s “full potential” expectations.  You don’t get extra points – or any points at all – for simply showing up and being “open for business”, being a year older, taking up space, depleting the planet of forage and contributing to landfills. 

What “counts” is what you go “out of your way” to make happen BEYOND minimal expectations.  Minimal expectations are a given.  If you don’t do minimal, there will be Hell to pay somewhere down the road.  That could translate into being “passed over”, fired, divorced, foreclosed, bankrupt, or worse.  And the minimum is generally a significant bit higher than we can reach without stretching. 

The least we can do is apply ourselves to the best of our ability.  That’s where “counting” begins. 

Grades count.  Cs and Ds won’t cut it.  An occasional C or D in a subject you simply “can’t get” might be overlooked if balanced by As and Bs in everything else.  Top grades mean that you have high standards for yourself and are willing and able to meet both those standards and the standards set for you by others – whatever it takes.  Very few of any consequence are interested in hiring or associating with individuals who have low or mediocre standards and can’t or won’t meet the general standards of the marketplace.  Sure, five years after you get the degree, it may not matter what grades you got in high school or college.  But these formative years establish a reference base and ingrain patterns of behavior that fingerprint our “fitness” for matriculation in the world at large for the duration. 

Making ourselves useful – and, at the very least, “sanctionable” – counts.  Our best anchoring – in the home, in the workplace or in any social context – is to be the “GO TO” person for something of value.  Being “entertaining” is cute, and being a “social butterfly” can be fun, and being a “victim” might get you occasional sympathy, but it’s what gets out the door and on the street with competitive customer buy-in that allows us to come back for more.  However, becoming a sine qua non cog in the wheel of progress [see also “Owner-Driver” summation] assures us a place in the Grand Scheme of things and – as an added bonus – creates sine qua non choices.  

Testimonials count.  A glowing recommendation can open more doors than the most carefully crafted résumé. 

At my mother’s memorial service, a still, small voice could be heard echoing in my head saying: “Who will stand and speak on my behalf at this time of reckoning?”  I was surprised and delighted to see how many did stand and speak eloquently on her behalf.  It was a much longer service than we had planned for!

Each of us has “reckonings” that can appear in the most untimely and unlikely of circumstances.  We need to have plowed the ground and tilled the soil and cultivated the harvest of accomplishments and testimonials that will carry us through even the worst of reckonings.  One of my former bosses claimed that the thing one most needs in the marketplace is an expert in the field putting his arm around our shoulder and saying to the world: “This person gets it done and is held in highest esteem!”  Make it so for you. 

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.”

Henry Ward Beecher

 

Unscheduled Time

I’ve come to reckon that “Unscheduled Time” is the bane of many fellow pilgrims.  More specifically, unscheduled time combined with the unperturbed moment is a double jeopardy construct.  When we are not “sorely pressed”, we tend to get “wrinkled” … unstrung … unhinged … detached … and undone.

Unscheduled time, combined with the unperturbed moment, is an opportunity to plug more directly in to our truest Destiny. 

However,  during unscheduled/unperturbed time, which we treat without passing thought as “Free Time”, most of us are more prone to UNPLUG ourselves from anything faintly resembling Destiny and, instead, plug into anything and everything as far removed from Destiny as possible.  This condition allows something we call “Fate” to take over our lives, and the results, without exception, aren’t pretty! 

I believe the real problem in dealing with the unperturbed/unscheduled moment is that we don’t have or recognize or cultivate truest Destiny “Plug-Ins” – call them “Apps”, if you like.  We naturally resist structure, discipline and “meaningful” pursuits that require some effort, missing or ignoring completely the “energizing” effect of hitching our wagon to a star and focusing all our attention and energies into a Grand Plan, Purpose or Goal.    

So we’ve got to develop our “Plug-Ins” with care – and on purpose. 

First, start with a Grand Plan.  It doesn’t have to be specific or grandiose.  It can be as simple as: “I want to become the best I can be.”   More specifics might help, such as: “I want to become the best student/salesperson/writer/producer/craftsman I can be.”  But specifics are not necessary in the beginning.

Then make a list of things that relate to that Grand Plan.  This should include skill-building activities, reading/research, tool acquisition (computer, software, tools-of-trade, etc.), connecting with significant others in a particular field of interest, and anything that will enhance “the color of your parachute”.  

Your list is a “Plug-In” master panel.  It is your “GO-TO” Plug-In store specifically designed to take maximum advantage of the unperturbed/unscheduled moment.  Your plug-ins should include stuff you need to do to survive, stuff that will help you stay organized, and stuff you find refreshing/restorative/regenerative.  Importantly, there should be no place on this list for television, videogames, tweeting, texting and twittering.  These activities are akin to drugs that drain life-sustaining oxygen out of our veins.  You might as well do “blood-letting”! 

If you have too much unscheduled/unperturbed time and find yourself gravitating to any of the above diversionary activities, you need to get a Grander Plan.  Your Destiny awaits and Fate will have to move on to more degenerative fields of opportunity.   

One of my personal “Plug-Ins” is exercise.  In fact, I think exercise should be near the top of any Grand Plan Plug-In list.  It increases circulation, clears cobwebs in the brain, energizes the body, increases momentum, brightens the spirit, capacitizes our constitution for exigencies, helps in “Centering Down”, and aerates the soul. 

Be ruthless in planning, “Plugging-In” and purposefully using unscheduled/unperturbed time. 

“Time is God’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.”

Author Unknown

Don’t keep putting off those things on your Destiny’s “Plug-In List” that need to be happening NOW – during the unscheduled/unperturbed moment; it makes’ God’s job a lot easier if we do OUR part on OUR time! 

"The time for taking all measures for a ship's safety is while still able to do so."

Admiral Nimitz, in a letter to the Pacific Fleet, 1945

 



“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

J.R.R. Tolkien “The Fellowship of the Ring”

 

Do the Least You Can Do

Most of us can “get by” without extending ourselves to any great length – and a lot do.  Let’s be candid:  You don’t really HAVE to …

·         Clean up your room

 

      ·         Eat right

·         Get your exercise

·         Brush and floss your teeth

·         Show up on time

·         … and a whole lot else …

… if you’re a NOBODY.  If you’re a “NOBODY”, you can get by doing the least you can do, which is … NOTHING… at least for some duration of time – maybe not so long a time.

However, if you’re a SOMEBODY, the least you can do is shaped by exactly who you are. 

And most of us are multiple “SOMEBODIES”:

·         If you are a student, the least you can do is show up for class, STUDY and do the home work;

·         If you are living under someone else’s roof, the least you can do is respect their authority, play by THEIR rules and help with associated chores;

·         If you are an artist, the least you can do is apply yourself diligently to your craft;

When you go to the grocery store, you are a “Grocery store shopper”.  The least you can do is get everything on your list and put the shopping cart in the shopping cart corral when you’re done.  [But if you are an “Uber Shopper”, you’ll pick up a stray shopping cart that “NOBODY” left stranded and take it in with you.]

When you load the dishwasher, you are a “Dish washer loader”.  The least you can do is load everything so it will get maximum cleaning exposure without ending up with standing water.  [And if you are an “Uber Dishwasher Loader”, you’ll load it so that the person who UNLOADS the contents will be able to do so in the most efficient and least dangerous way.]

When you paint the house, you are a “House Painter”.  The least you can do is clean and prepare the area(s) to be painted, apply the best paint you can afford, and clean up and put away the brushes and tools used in the process.  [If you are an “Uber House Painter”, you’ll apply a second coat and be equally attentive to places people don’t normally see.]  

First, BE SOMEBODY.

Then DO the “least” such a SOMEBODY can do. 

That’s “Total Intentional Living”. 

And, if you want to be someone “Special”, be an UBER SOMEBODY.  The dividends will far outshine the investment over time, and it’s the most certain way to “Beat The System”. 

“Be somebody Special, and do ‘the least you can do’ in that capacity.”   Quartermaster