Recognizing It Is Step One.

I had a teacher in 7th grade that was a serious A-Hole. No joke… He was so mean and angry. I blame it on the fact that he was really fat and old, never married and never had kids. I am willing to bet that if he lost some weight and got a date he would be a happier person. Not to say that fat, single people can’t be happy… moreover, he might be happier with himself if he lost some weight and sharing his life with someone might ease whatever internal angst he had… But, I digress, that is completely not the point of this post.

Although he was a complete A-Hole, he happened to occasionally share little nuggets of wisdom, some of which I still think about today. One of my favorite things was when he would say in front of the whole class, usually when I was up at the board trying to work a problem… “Charlie, why do you insist on walking around the barn instead of just walking in???” At the time my internal response would be, “Mr. Rodgers, why do you insist on making me want to kick your big fat ass???”, but now as an adult, I have to realize that this statement sometimes still rings true.

For example, I started a new job about 5 months ago and when I did I trained with a lady that worked at the front of the office, therefore used the front office copier/fax machine/etc. My office, however, is in the back. Now, before you go thinking that I can’t figure out how to use basic office equipment, I can… but things are networked and bla bla bla and it isn’t quite as black and white as it seems. So, in the meantime, every time I need to fax something, make labels, scan something to myself… instead of going about 20 feet to my own equipment, I have to go all the way to front of the office. And, each time I do, I hear stupid ass Mr. Rodgers. Why I don’t take 5 minutes to figure out my own stuff? Because, I walk around the barn… It’s what I do.

I feel like realizing this about myself is the first step though…