Life Teaches Us Lessons Every Day

I make it a practice to record daily life lessons. Here are a few from my journals over the past month:

•  “Touch everything once" is good advice for someone like me who struggles with ADD. I find myself often beginning something, and then leaving it in midstream, thinking I will get back to it. Only later do I discover that something else got in the way or I simply forgot. This can create chaos in my life. So lately I have been trying to lead by the adage, "touch everything once".
• Someone told me that he used to be “an egotistical SOB", then he learned humility. I praised him for learning this important lesson, but warned him that he will have to continue to learn humility every day.
• I helped a client discover that she had been a “replacement child.” This means that she was born after a sibling had died. As a consequence, not only did she have to live life for herself, but also had to carry her parents' expectations of the child who had passed away. This made her feel extremely over-responsible and stressed, much of the time.
• No one is irreplaceable.
• Nothing is ever guaranteed.
• As Bob Dylan said, “we all have to serve somebody.”
• One troublesome staff member can take up an inordinate amount of time. Leaders must continually ask themselves; Is their effort worth it? "Will my efforts result in a person turning around and being productive or will they continue to drain my energy and my time?"
• If someone comes into you complaining about a "monkey on his back", listen carefully and try to help, but be sure when he leaves, the monkey is not on your back.
• A person becomes most anxious about dying when she reaches the age her mother died. Or for a man, when his father died. Often, the source of the anxiety is not apparent (no pun intended!).