by Heather Plett | Feb 6, 2006 | Uncategorized
After several years of being a manager, I know these things to be true:
– no matter how many leadership or coaching books you read or courses you take, people are still people and you can’t mold them into the shape you want them to take
– even bosses need some positive re-inforcement now and then – if you have one, make sure she/he doesn’t just hear criticism all the time
– you can’t make a group of people act like a team if they don’t want to be a team
– conference calls are a waste of time if only one or two people do all the talking
– no matter what good idea you have (or another person on the team has), someone will pour cold water on it
– some people DELIGHT in pouring the cold water
– it’s nearly impossible to lead people who don’t think they need to be lead
Sometimes I wonder why I still do it. Today, I’d rather be working all alone with just a computer screen to keep me company. But instead, I steel myself to lead yet another waste-of-time conference call that I keep insisting we have because it’s the only way I can imagine we’ll begin to build a team out of a bunch of “I’ll do things my way” people spread across the country.
by Heather Plett | Jan 30, 2006 | Uncategorized
When my sister asked me if I wanted to go through some of the clothes she’d received as hand-me-downs (expensive, brand-name clothes, I might add) to see if I needed or wanted any of them, I said “no thank you. I have enough clothes.”
Wow! Enough. I truly have enough. It was good to say those words and realize that they were true. Not just in the area of clothes, either. It’s true for furniture, kitchen gadgets, and all kinds of other stuff too. I have enough.
Oh sure, if I started to think of it, I could find things I’d LIKE, but even that list isn’t very long right now. I feel content with what I have. My closets are full enough, my cupboards are full enough, my house is full enough.
It’s a good feeling – to realize that you are content. It helps that I’ve made a decision to not bring anything into my house unless I am prepared to get rid of the same number of things from what’s already there. It makes me think twice about accepting things – even the things people give me. It’s a zero sum game – acquisitions in equals dispersements out.
Yes, I have enough.
by Heather Plett | Jan 26, 2006 | Uncategorized
Said between sobs while she wanders around the house naked after her sister beat her into the bathtub… “I’m going to get my Barbie suitcase,” sob, “and I’m going to pack it and move somewhere where I NEVER have to take baths AGAIN!” sob
I’ve never had a kid who threatens to move away from home as often as she does, and she’s only three. And the scary thing is, sometimes I think she’d actually DO IT! Fortunately, tonight’s not the night, because she’s now cozy and clean in her pajamas, still in my house. Whew!
(If anyone sees a three year old wandering past their house with a Barbie suitcase please send her home.)
by Heather Plett | Jan 25, 2006 | Uncategorized
Sometimes, when you’re driving home in the dark, on the way home from your mom’s house where you’ve heard one too many “God’s truth” opinions voiced, the kids are laughing and playing “hats over” in the back seat of the car, it hits you and all you can do is let the tears flow because you remember a moment, a conversation, a pat on the shoulder, and you long to have him back.
This time, it was the election. I wanted to hear his opinion. I wanted to see him reading his Maclean’s magazine and wondering what might be in store for our country this time around. I wanted the voice of a man who liked to listen to other peoples’ opinions, challenge them, disagree with them perhaps, yet always respect them deeply. I wanted to thank him for raising me to have an opinion, a voice, and the confidence to believe in it even if it was different from his own.
I wanted it so badly I could almost taste it.
by Heather Plett | Jan 24, 2006 | Uncategorized
When you want to make a treat for the kids, and you make something called “So easy they’re embarrassing squares” and you screw it up. Now THAT’S embarrassing.
Guess I should have paid more attention to Ms. Taylor back in Junior High home ec. class. 🙁
