The second chapter of IPOH was much more difficult for me than the first chapter was. One of the things I had to continuously remind myself of was written in big bold letters across the 57th page. “Remember: We meet our needs through activities we do with ourselves and other people, not through products.” Most of my wants seemed to be different things. I realized that time seemed to be a major component of most of my wants. I’m going to stop myself here; before I jump too far into what I took from this chapter.
I will start with the first exercise from this chapter; identifying what I have that makes my life happier.
From Myself:
- I have a nice townhome in Virginia that I share with Myrna, my fiancée.
- I am a student. It feels amazing to study full time again after being in the Army.
- Both Myrna and I have been learning to cook better.
From Others:
- Myrna loves me. Just that thought makes me happy.
- I have a very supportive family.
- I have some life-long friends that I left the Army with. We support each other with the troubles of trying to start a life outside of the military.
- The Veterans Administration, which has been providing me with health coverage as well as money for education.
I feel I made the right decision when I was 18 years old, and enlisted in the Army. It was obviously a rough, painful few years, but I don’t think I would be the person I am today without it. On top of the personal growth brought on from service, the benefits and rewards provided to service members has been invaluable.
This decision showed that I had a willingness to sacrifice my immediate college-bound, relatively safe future for service to the nation that provided that security. Although I didn’t have everything thought out that well at the time.
After reading through more of IPOH I wrote out a list of all of my wants that come to mind. This is where I began to notice the theme of time across my wants. I placed time within the Freedom need, although it does fit into Power too.
Using the abbreviations: L- Love, P- Power, F- Fun, FR- Freedom
FR- A car for Myrna, with infinite gas mileage
FR- A dishwasher
FR- A closer VA hospital (it takes about an hour to get there and back.
P,FR- A part time, first shift job.
With the exception of the job, everything falls back to the desire for more time. However, the desire for a job will take up even more time. I’m fairly sure that I’m not stretching myself too thin. Instead, I’ve realized that what I actually need is better time management. If I paid closer attention to how I was spending time, I wouldn’t be having due dates sneak up on me, and last minute, household emergencies wouldn’t be able to cause as much problems as they do. By managing my time better I would be able to fulfill my need for freedom, power, as well as open more time for fun.
Brain storming
17 years ago
5 comments:
Can I ask a silly question? Is your want a J-O-B or could it be something else? Jobs really signify so much, don't they? I guess what I mean is this: Is your want M-O-N-E-Y (which could equal freedom among other things)or is your want the ability to do something productive/give back/contribute? Or is it something else?
Time, Time, Time! It's always about time. There is a recurring theme amongst almost all of our Bloggs. We all lead very busy lives and none of us feels we have enough time to dedicate to everything we need and want to do. You said the key phrase though, "Time Management." That is the only true solution to our delema's. If you can't manage everything you have, you need to reevaluate what you are doing. If you are able to manage them, make sure you are devoting enough of yourself to the cause and make it worthwile. Don't "fudge" you way through things and only give a half effort. Give everything all or nothing.
I make a motion that each day consist of 36 hours instead of 24 hours. I could do everything I ever wanted in that amount of time. I might even be able to get more sleep.
To answer Kris' questions.
The primary reason I want a job so bad is to get out of the house. My finacee goes to campus for her schooling, and I stay at home. I miss being able to actively problem solve. There is something mentally healthy about coming home at the end of the day and knowing that I did something. I worked hard and accomplished something.
Obviously the money is a factor, although I receive enough benefits from the Army that i would be able to get by without a job. Obviously when starting a home every penny counts.
Time is critical! I have said it before but I can't ever say it enough-time can be the most valuable thing that you have or don't have. My parents always told me they had more money than time and I never understood that because we grew up rather poor compared to most. I was confused when they would say this but now I understand the price of the little conveniences in life. As I grow older, I suspect with that age, along with the family that I hope to have, that time will become more and more of a precious thing. It is not surprising that you recognized that time is involved in most of your points and I do think that time management is an acquired/learned skill. Your military service obviously trained you how to be able to recognize this. The fact that you do recognize that and are striving to use better time management techniques tells me that you are ahead of most others that have not learned that lesson as of yet. Thank you for serving sir!
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