"Give It A Thought" by David Duane Wilson

Ego vs. Humility The Eternal Struggle – Give It A Thought

The Situation:

It was just the other day where I attended a seminar on memory loss. We arrived late and there was no parking close to the entrance. I was dropped off at the door with several items while Elaine went to find a parking place. As I struggled to take the items in, a fellow offered to help by placing my stuff on his dolly. His act of kindness was greatly appreciated and I told him so. We shook hands as I introduced myself. He replied that his name was Ron. We rolled into the meeting. I took my items and found seats in the back.

The meeting started by welcoming all the guest and thanking those who volunteered. With everyone’s attention, the host said, “I want to introduce our speaker tonight. He is the author of the book “Memory Loss”. Please welcome Dr. Ronald Devere.”

To my surprise, Ron got up. He gave an excellent presentation and afterwords, he signed his books. He took the time to speak to each individual and made all of us feel appreciated and welcomed.

I’m telling you this story because it represents a very successful person practicing the virtue of Humility.

Let Me Elaborate:

When some people become successful, they have a tendency to allow their egos to get the better of them and then they forget how to be humble. Success can breed arrogance and a high and mighty attitude.

How To Prevent Your Ego From Taking Over:

An ethical and virtuous person practices humility. Once a person starts to find success, they must be on guard to prevent their ego from getting out of hand. Although it is appropriate to bask in the glow of accomplishments and to accept complements from admirers, do not permit these accolades to inflate the ego. To prevent becoming an Egomaniac, a person must practice Humility always.

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Stress In The Emergency Room

Ring! Ring!

It was my cell phone alerting me that someone was calling. I stopped typing and started looking for my phone beneath all the papers that were cluttered about my desk. “This is David” I answered. “Dave can you give me a ride to the emergency room?” my neighbor and close friend asked. “I’ll be right over” I replied.

The Concern:

That phone call was the start of a stress filled journey to the Emergency Room.  Bill (an alias), met me at the door and explained that his blood pressure had spiked high.  His regular Doctor was on vacation and his office had advised him to go to the Emergency Room. “Not a problem” I said.  We then jumped in the car and headed to the hospital.

The First Stress-er:

Bill signed in and we looked for a seat in the crowded waiting room. The available seats were right across from a poor fellow who evidently had taken a fall.  He had labored breathing.  He was slumped and holding his arm as if something was broken.  He looked at us and mumbled “I think I broke my ribs.” I smiled and nodded and he simply looked back down and resumed his labored breathing.

Emotions flooded over me. This fellow was in so much pain and there was so little that I could do. I felt powerless, my anxiety level started to rise, even more so as blood trickled down his leg from the scrape on his knee.

Another Stress-er:

After 30 minutes passed, Bill was seen in the triage room. His blood pressure was still high, but all the other vitals were normal. “ It will be a little while.  The beds in the treatment room are full” the nurse said. “Oh wow more stress!”, I thought. I hope my friend doesn’t have a problem while we wait.  It took about two more hours of waiting before the nurse came out and called Bill’s name. We were escorted back to the ER treatment room. My friend was instructed to put on a gown and lay down on the bed.

Needles!!!

A Doctor came in and asked all the appropriate questions. “I am going to order an EKG and a blood test.  When we get the results I will be back to speak with you.” he said while pulling back the curtain and stepping out. “This is normal stuff” I reassuringly said to Bill.  A minute later the nurse returned.  She hooked up a blood pressure monitor, an EKG machine and started the recordings.  After the EKG, she said, “I’m going to take your blood draw and set up the IV.” She tied off his arm and out came the needle!  Now, I have had blood draws, but I normally look away.  This time I was curious and decided to watch. That was a mistake, even though I was not the one getting stuck with the needle.   Just the sight of it raised my blood pressure and I had to look away.

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Frustration vs. Persistence – Give It A Thought

Getting Frustrated?

Today’s task was to transfer my email list from one provider to another. It sounded simple enough, I mean the instructions were clear and it was easy to get the list from my current provider. I clicked on the drop down and selected export list. Another box appeared, it stated that the list file would be mailed to my email address, all I had to do was click confirm.

The First Issue:

I clicked confirm and went to my mailbox, and sure enough, there was my list of email contacts. Only one little problem, it was sent in Microsoft Excel. I use Open Office, which means it’s not going to open properly. I opened the file with Open Office and sure enough, there was my data and a lot of trash.

A Quick Call to Technical Support:

I knew that this was going to be a problem, so I made a call to technical support. I got connected right away and the help was spot on. We decided that I would have to delete all the junk data and just use what I needed, Email and Full Name. Support even had a sample list  that I could look at and use as a pattern for my data. All I needed to do was download and open it. So, I opened it with Open Office.

The Sample File:

The file was clean of extra characters. It had specific column titles but strangely they were all under column “A”. Email and Full Name in column “A”. It did not take me too long.  I deleted all unnecessary characters and changed the titles to the appropriate heading. I then downloaded this file to the “add members” wizard in the new data base and received an“Error” message.

I Made A Second Quick Call To Technical Support!

I was quickly connected to support and I told them this story. Immediately the tech guy said, “you have to separate the Email address in one column, the Name into another column, convert the file to CSV and then our system will take it. “I understand, what you’re saying makes sense, but your sample file has all the data in column “A” I exclaimed. The tech guy says “let me look at it” and then it dawns on me, “I opened this file with Open Office. I mentioned this to tech support and he said that Open office would open the file differently that Microsoft Excel. We decided that I should use two columns with proper headings and then save as in a CSV format.

I Need A Break!

The first episode of frustration had set in. I realized that I needed to calm down and relax. I did a few minutes of Breathing Exercises and then a session of Progressive Muscle Relaxation. I felt refreshed.  My mind was clear and I was ready to start again.

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Outsourcing: Let A Professional Do It – Give It A Thought

You Can’t Do It All:

For all my life I have felt that I’m better off doing it myself. Working around my house, minor home repairs and even the technical aspects of my Internet business. With age I have grown wiser and now realize that sometimes, “It’s better to let a professional do it”.

Do I Save Money On The Labor?

When I do a project myself, I save money on the labor charge. I save money there, but it takes me time to do it. Usually, it takes me much longer to complete the same task. A professional, who does this work all the time, is much faster and more efficient. So I ask you, “Am I really saving money in this situation?” I am tied up doing the task, when I could be doing something else that I do well. Chances are, I am not saving money on the labor.

Do I Do Just As Good A Job?

Well now, that is real debatable. I have always prided myself in my work. I always try to do my best. I now realize there are some things that others do much better than myself. As an example, setting up a website.

I have been blogging for four years using wordpress and various themes. I have never been totally satisfied with what I created. After joining the Ultimate Blog Challenge this July, I got to look at several different websites. “Shock and Awe”, these sites are awesome! The “Light Came On“, and I realized what I created couldn’t compete.

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