Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. Theophrastus d. 278 B.C. On several occasions over the years, I’ve had the unfortunate experience of taking someone to an emergency room at a hospital. After a hospital staffer gets the patient’s name and information, the patient is sent to triage; a nurse checks the patient’s vital signs, determines the reason for the visit, then makes a decision about the next step. The choices are either to proceed with immediate treatment, or — as happens in most cases — to send the patient back to the waiting room. Generally, the …
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Tag Archives: planning
Slow and steady wins the race. Aesop c. 550 B.C. Unless you’re into mountain climbing or skiing at high altitudes, you’ve probably never heard of mountain sickness. There are two types: one is rather mild and occurs at relatively low altitudes, while high altitude pulmonary edema can be very serious, even deadly. The basic cause of each is that the rate of ascent into higher altitudes outpaces the body’s ability to adjust. If a climber took a helicopter and landed halfway up a very high mountain to shorten the time to the top, he’d almost certainly contract the more serious …
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Nothing recedes like progress. E. E. Cummings 1894 – 1962 Have you ever observed someone running on a treadmill? Usually, they’re putting forth a good deal of effort, yet they aren’t physically going anywhere; they continue to stay in the exact same place as when they started their workout. For me, this image provides a good analogy for the way so many people live their day-to-day lives: they’re constantly expending effort — possibly a great amount of effort — but they don’t make any forward progress. To some extent, stagnant progress is inevitable, because there will always be setbacks in …
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