Manageability

First Principle of Manageability

You can’t have it all and/or do it all – at least not all at once.

We CAN – and DO, however, all hope for better and wish for more.

And reasonable opportunity to DO and BE is essential.  The minimum one can ask is to have at least a “fighting chance” to make our best possible way in the world.    

But the real day-to-day, guts and grit operationality challenge of life is in keeping things manageable.  Not surprisingly, a lot of that is up to US – ourselves – individually – on our own.   

The usual admonitions pertain, of course.  Everything your mother told you has some enduring value:  Get organized, clean up after yourself, do your homework, don’t buy what you don’t need, put as much money as possible in your piggy bank, get the chores out of the way as expeditiously as possible, go to bed at a decent hour, and get up early enough to start your day right.  

Planning helps.  And strategic and tactical planning help even more – i.e., lining out not only what’s most critical to be done when, but how to go about DOING it.  [NOTE: This applies to recreational and regenerative activities, as well.  Rewards well earned are worth being well planned and well executed; don’t just let the very best of life haphazardly happen – or not!]  

A Really Simple Example

When loading the dishwasher,

put things in with at least half-a-thought on how you can make

both the cleaning better and unloading easier. 

(Whoa!  Who does THAT?) 

Nothing underpins “manageability” more than having a critical mass of CAPACITY … with enough reserve left in the tank after “givens” to deal with vicissitudes and exigencies. 

My daily 6-mile bike ride was made much more manageable

by first doing a 1-mile bike ride … then a 3-mile … etc.,

all the time increasing my capacity.

(Moving from a 3-speed bike to a 21-speed touring cycle

also made a world of difference.

So, having the right tools is a major plus!)

Owning or having access to a critical mass of negotiable SPACE is another core element of manageability.  This includes mental, psychological and spiritual space as well as physical space.  How’s your personal space inventory?  

Being well GROUNDED and having reasonable BALANCE are important.  How much wind can your sails take before your boat starts taking on water?   

And who can function at all well without enough TIME?  Be very stingy with YOUR time.   Use as much as you can to build capacity and get better grounded. 

MONEY may be the “root of all evil” when poorly managed, but, without it, things are a lot less manageable overall.  Proactively position yourself to compete where money is involved (and that doesn’t mean playing the lottery twice a day!)

SUSTAINABILITY is another core element of manageability.   A considerable amount – if not ALL – of what we do should have lasting value … preferably appreciable (expandable) value to help assure a manageable future. 

EXERCISE is hard to oversell.  It increases both physical and mental capacity, strengthens the constitution, enlifens the spirit, and “weeds out” superficialities and inconsequentials ... all of which makes life much more manageable.   

On the other hand, things that make life a lot LESS manageable are legion.  For me, they include:   

Donuts, candy bars, sugar-containing snacks and soft drinks, alcohol, mind-altering drugs, television, video games, fantasy and fiction, perseveration/procrastination, gossip, web surfing … [add your favorite “can’t live without it” indulgence here] …   

For maximum manageability, CONNECTION to a network of significant others who are mutually supportive can be extremely advantageous.  Such networks provide substantially expanded resourcefulness in addition to sanity-enhancing camaraderie, “reality checks” and endorsements. 

Finally, one has to allow that manageability can be overdone.  Having everything neat and tidy “in its place” may give obsessive-compulsives some peace of mind (oh, right!).  But if the stuff you need to keep life manageable isn’t readily accessible, it’s a marked impediment.  Stacking dishes upon dishes to maximize “clear” space (e.g., for improved aesthetics (?) and easier cleaning purposes) can actually make living life more convoluted.   

SPECIAL NOTE: When life becomes unmanageable, all is not necessarily lost.  Remember the First Principle of Manageability and consider the possibility that you may have to give something up.  Start with the easy stuff: television, partying, window shopping, joy riding, bridge club and other diversions.  But also consider more serious sacrifices, where needed.  Short of selling off the farm and entering a monastery, options may exist – or can be created – that, although painful, can at least buy time and slow the accrual of suffocating liabilities.  [During college, graduate school and the early part of my career, I gave up all non-essentials, including my first love, music.]  Intense monitoring and an early response will minimize the pain and keep life manageable to the most manageable extent. 

“The time to take all measures for a ship’s safety is while still able to do so.”

Admiral Nimitz

Codicil

How we make the most challenging aspects of life more manageable is becoming a pressing urgency.  Like poverty.  Perhaps by definition, poverty is unmanageable, but we have to keep trying.  And how about diversity?  Sunnis versus Shiites in the Middle East … Catholics versus Protestants in Ireland … Israelis versus Palestinians … “Manageable”, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.  But, at some point, one can only hope that the “beholding” can become broad enough, deep enough and sufficiently shared to bridge these unfortunate chasms of unmanageability.  Quartermaster