Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes we recognize our failures. Then—for some strange reason—we attempt something that will fail an order of magnitude more.

• We have failed to manage our $1 maintenance budget. Let’s correct this by starting a $10 development budget.
• We have failed to communicate in daily operations. Let’s correct this by starting a large project that requires excellent communication.
• I have failed at managing my home. I’ll correct this by becoming a manager at work so I will make more money and can hire a home manager.

Hmmm, realization of failure, followed by uh, well, er something that requires a correction that is much bigger than our past failure. That makes sense. Right?

Wrong.

Learn to walk before trying to run. But that is slow, and I am ready or maybe I am just impatient. The future won’t wait for me to learn to walk, will it? Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.

Perhaps the path to learning is to learn our own shortcomings and the necessity of time.