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Becoming More Valuable – Weekly Goal Update

It’s important to remember that we are all flawed creatures. We all have thoughts that are often wrong and feelings that are often misleading. We can fall off the wagon and get lost in our limited perspective.

I am working on improving my effectiveness in work and life, which can be stressful. By that I mean it is stressful. Very, very stressful. I typically have several very effective stress management systems in place, but will power can be strained, and mechanisms overwhelmed. Especially in my case, when the situation has to do with family.

sigh…real mature

This is (was) my primary working computer. Several months of imaging, configuration, customization made it just right for my day to day tasks. Now it’s just an ugly external hard drive. Why? Simply put, I made a bad decision; one I’m not proud of. I essentially got stressed and threw a tantrum right through the screen. I’m not proud at all, mind you. However, toward the realization of my goal I thought it would be valuable to share some of this information.

First thing of note is the obvious: mistakes are costly. The estimated total cost between time lost, hardware repairs, opportunity costs, and the inefficiency of erecting a replacement system was about $6,000. That’s over an entire month of my goal. The real (measurable) cost was $500 which means I need to hustle to get back to my baseline. This doesn’t include potential damage to my relationships.

All in all what failed in stress management was made up for in risk mitigation. My data was backed up, I had warranties in place, replacement machines (just in case) and all contractors and partners were empowered to do their work while I was putting pieces together. That’s not the point, though. The point is that the screw up can’t be excused by a fast recovery, especially when you have ambitious goals or any sort.

First word of advice, stay cool under pressure. It’s much easier if you take care of yourself. Rest, eat well, work out, etc. All that stuff makes the stress easier to handle. If you feel you’re losing your grip on yourself, step away for a moment. Nap. Drink some water. Just look the other way for a moment.

Second word of advice, don’t invest large hopes in small portfolios. This is a bit close to the heart so let’s dive in a skooch. I lost myself because I put a lot of emotion into a single important person. This is a beautiful, admirable, and unfair thing to do to anyone, including to yourself. Make sure you have enough room in any relationship to disappoint and be disappointed, because as we’ve already established, we are flawed creatures.

I have more updates to make and I’m still totaling up the opportunities I need to make up by my actions (I was supposed to attend a seminar and train for a 5k instead of fixing my RSA key associations) so bear with me as I tidy myself up a bit. Thank you.