The best advice I ever heard was to only pay attention to what people do and forget everything they say. A neighbor may talk with us over coffee, for example on organizational skills, giving an elaborate list to follow precisely for a successful, well prepared path to success. We may diligently write down each detail in an effort to have a better, less stress filled life.

We may visit again with the well meaning neighbor who originated this checklist only to discover that person has not attended a previously scheduled luncheon meeting because they simply forgot or been 20 minutes late for the weekly exercise class because of bad time management or appeared the day after the art show reception. How can we overlook these situations when we were mesmerized by the previous topic of conversation regarding organization including notations of appointments with date, time and location? The specific steps to follow which we now realize were not applied at all render the topic of conversation completely worthless.

This person have made the decision to not follow their own advice on organizational skills while stating this way of life is much more complete and fulfilling. The reality is that organizational skills or any priority we wish to attain only works when we implement the steps continuously. We must do and not just speak.

Syd Gibson