Getting Things Done

I’m afraid I don’t know how to get things done. Big things, impossible things, things that take commitment, courage and drive. I’m surrounded by people, many of them fighter pilots, who do it all the time. I’m mesmerized by them, but I know I’m not like them.

They compartmentalize their lives. When they work, everything else disappears. If they weren’t this way naturally they’ve learned it in the cockpit where their world is on the line. Or maybe they learned it along the way, realizing nothing is free and competition is fierce.

An acquaintance used a story to describe what it takes to get things done. Late one night while working for and traveling with the president, a senior aide told him the president needed a blue shirt at 6 am. He’d messed up in his job recently so he wanted to come through. After exhausting all other options he went to a clothes store, threw a rock through the window and had the shirt ready at 6 am.

In the movie Wyatt Earp, a hard-edged Kevin Costner tells the easy-going, reasonable sheriff, played by Bill Pullman, that he's too nice, implying he won’t succeed in his efforts to clean up the town. “You’re too affable,” he tells him twice. A few scenes later the sheriff is shot down.

I‘m too affable. I come from a family of affability. We’re laid-back, we do what feels right, we don’t conquer the world or do big things. We let things happen, we don’t make them happen. We don’t care too much about winning and never worry about someone getting the better of us. If we lose, there’s always next time--hope springs eternal.

We know how to live life though, to get up each day with a positive outlook, and do it all over again. We know how to have fun and we make great friends. But do we know how to get things done? Hardly. My parents have been remodeling the house we moved into 35 years ago for 35 years. It will never be done, but they’ve learned a ton and enjoyed the process.

So I don’t have an edge in my approach to life, it’s not worth it to me, I like my sunny outlook. Or maybe I don't have a hard edge because I’ve never needed one, never had to survive on my own and watch out for myself. My husband says I’ve never even had to eat the heel of a loaf of bread, let alone endure extended hardship or keep others from taking advantage of me. (I’d totally eat it if it was the only slice left, but why before then?)

Well I think I actually have eaten a few heels, and I might not know how to get things done the way my friends do, but I do have discipline and the desire to finally accomplish something. I‘m wavering on the “how” because of what I‘ve observed, but in spite of that I’m going with my own “affable” instincts and following my unproven vision. I’m going to sit here every day banging out crap until it is no longer crap. I have a tiny bit of faith in this process and I’m liking the way it feels.

I know this is not how people get things done, but another thing my family knows is how to enjoy the journey, and I’m doing that.

We’re also late-bloomers.