Ralph Carlson Blog

Stress?

This has been an eventful week.  What I mean is that so far there have been more events than normal. When I have weeks like that I am stressed.  I don’t like stress.  So, of course, the higher number of events is seldom scheduled from my action.  It comes from indirect activity of mine or because of somebody else.

Maybe not

This is a problem.  I can handle these events.  I am resourceful and resilient and the events are never so complex and difficult as they seem in my fantasies.  To protect myself from stress, I don’t schedule my calendar full of activities and when my calendar is not full, I waste time on non-essential activities.  I miss working up to my full capabilities and the path to my goals is longer than it needs to be.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/mahalie/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

 I contiue to struggle to be more efficient and effective.  As I try to cram more into each day the biggest obstacle I have other than the the 24 hour limit each day is me.  It isn’t natural for me to be efficient.  My nature is to put things off and fritter time away on things which don’t take me closer to my goals. There are tools that I use that help me get control. First is a calendar to store all my appointments. It is important to have all those appointments in a central location where it is easy to see and analyze what is going on.   For many years I used a Franklin Planner to keep my personal calendar. It worked pretty well although I had to make an effort to include all my personal committments into the business committments on which it was focused.  It was also bulky to lug around.  I was never able to persuade myself to spend the money on a PDA but last year I was convinced to try a smartphone which can sync with my office calendar in Outlook.  So far I am liking the convenience of being able to check my schedule anytime and anywhere.  It is also less bulky than the Franklin and it can handle contacts and email to boot.

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Milwaukee Art Museum

A weekend conference gave me a brief opportunity to see the Milwaukee Art Museum by Santiago Calatrava.  I had seen photos of the brise soleil but had not studied the complete building or understood its purpose.  Locals seem proud of the structure and and explained to me how it opens and closes to shield the interior from direct sun.  The building is stunning, set against Lake Michigan.  Friday during my visit, the sky was grey and the building was difficult to photograph.  The brise soleil was open like seagulls landing.  As I left on Sunday with the sun shining the brise soleil was folded down against the skylights.  Unfortunately I didn’t have time to visit and see the difference for the interior lighting but Friday , the grand lobby was glorious.

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