If we can adapt to sudden changes in schedules in our personal lives, might we also apply those same skills to adapting to sudden changes in our professional lives? Here’s a sample of what I’m thinking.
My family and close friends rarely, if ever, use the term “normal” in reference to me. I like using that term and do so frequently, probably in hopes of persuading them. So I had high hopes this morning.
This Monday started out like a “normal” Monday for me – time spent with Jake in the cool morning, weekly calendar reviewed, emails checked, and favorite background music playing in the office. That’s about as far as I got on the normal scale. When I went to feed Jake and give him his daily dose of cottage cheese (which I can’t stand, by the way), I found that the container felt like it was glued down to the shelf. And there I discovered that a container of honey glaze had leaked onto the glass shelf, gluing everything in place. Trust me, it wasn’t on my schedule this morning to spend the next two hours cleaning my refrigerator and freezer (I’ll explain that in a moment) and rearranging the shelves. I was planning to spend time writing an abstract for a proposed workshop presentation next year. But as I cleaned up the spill and looked at the items that had migrated to the back of the shelf, I ended up cleaning every shelf and drawer. I found some interesting stuff, too. Why I had a jar of kosher pickles, I have no clue. Like cottage cheese, kosher and dill pickles are not welcome in my home. How is that the short jars always seem to be hiding behind the taller jars? Why is that?
Oh, and the freezer. I made the mistake of opening the freezer door after cleaning the refrigerator when I heard an ice cube fall from the ice maker to the bottom shelf. Ever have that experience where you spill something on the counter and after cleaning it up, you extend the cleaning to the point where all of the counters are cleaned and rearranged? That’s sort of what happened with the freezer. When I picked up the ice cube, I noticed a couple of Jake’s hairs – need I explain any further?
Have a great Monday, folks, and enjoy the rest of your week. I plan to do just that.