"What Did He Say?"

Successful plan execution normally requires some form of motivation.  In my work environment, motivation is often implied once there is clear communication of task and purpose.  Recently, we chose to use a less direct, but more effective approach with our teens. 

One overwhelming task for teens is putting their clothes away once they are clean, folded and in the clothes basket.  It really doesn’t seem that hard.  Take the clothes out of the basket, open the drawer, set them down in the drawer.  Task complete. Sounds like a solid plan.  Obviously, the missing component is motivation.

Based on our teen’s response, we hit a home run on the right motivation approach.

“What are these?”  “Oh, gross.”  “I don’t want those touching my clothes.”  “Nobody needs to see those”  [at this point we are laughing so hard our sides hurt]  “It is not funny.”  “Get them out of here so I can finish with my clothes”

My son was in full freak out mode.

The “these”, “those”, and “them” above were a pair of my wife’s “delicates”. Honestly, we fell into this motivation technique by accident.  We did not put them in with his clothes - static cling did.  Since it was so effective, we decided to pile on.

“If you let your clothes linger in the basket for more than a couple of days, you might find more of the same.  Do you want that?”  “NO WAY!”

He needed a little more motivation when the next basket came up because his clothes still lay folded in his basket.  His surprise this time was a pair of my unmentionables.  He was even more offended and he started yelling, “Father [he calls me that when he is getting serious], what have you done?”  “I’m not touching them.”  “Get them out of here.”

I told him I had no idea what he was talking about.  I didn’t place anything in his basket….his mother did.  “What?”  “You are the man of the house.  You need to get your wife under control.”

What did he just say?  Yeah, right.  My relationship with my wife is based on my ability to “control” her.  Not touching that one.  You can only imagine the new set of life lessons he received that night.

Teens are the only form of the human species that can take us from a motivation event to a discussion of control.  Go figure.

Proverbs 21:23  “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps himself out of trouble.”

- What is your plan? -

“One of the Greatest Minds”

My wife and I are truly blessed to be in such close proximity to “one of the greatest minds of the 21st Century”.  What an honor.

Budgeting is a great planning tool.  Having a monthly family financial budget means having a plan for where your money is going to go in the next month.   

Having a home improvement project budget means knowing how much you can spend before you cut the first board or, in my case, it gives my wife an estimate before she applies the man-pi factor (3.14 x his estimate).  

Having a time budget means fencing blocks of time for yourself to accomplish all your tasks for a day.  This application of budgeting was especially useful during a recent “planning session” with our oldest son.  

He thought it would be a very good idea to set a daily budget of time so he could get his work done and, more importantly, get us off his back.  We were very proud when he set up his time budget all on his own and it was very reasonable.  30 minutes for a meal, 4 hours for school work, 30 minutes to stretch, 20 minutes to get ready in the morning, …… and so on.  It actually showed that he was going to be up and out of bed by 8:30.  Not bad considering this is one of our “sleepy teens”.

As my wife was reviewing his time budget with him, it was apparent that he was also proud of himself for putting it together.  It really was a nice plan.  When she complimented him on his time budgeting abilities he returned a confident response: “Well, when you’re dealing with one of the greatest minds of the 21st Century, you have to keep organized”.

Oh, yes.  He actually said it.  Modest is this one.  I really wish he would break out of his shell.

Proverbs 26:12 “Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for them.”

- What is your plan? -

“What to Call a “Dog”?”

I mentioned in my first blog that I felt like I had enough content to fill years and years of blog space. After 12 blog posts, I still feel the same way, but I’ve also discovered another interesting factoid.  I am really good with blog titles.

I am not bragging.  Several people have complimented my titles.   

“I love your titles.”

“Your titles are so creative.”

“Your titles always make me laugh.”

“I can’t wait for your next blog because your titles are genius.”

Ok.  Maybe I stretched the truth on these compliments just a little.  I don’t get many accolades on my writing.  Wait a minute.  They are not actually complimenting my writing, just the titles.

Now that I think about it, maybe what they are really saying is:

“Your content is really, really bad.”

“Please write something that compels me to read further than the title.”

“Take a creative writing class.  Please.”

Sounds like a cry for mercy.  Well, at least I have the keen ability to give a “Dog” of a post a cool name.  I can live with that.

James 4:6  “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

- What is your plan -