Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Too much ... so align yourself then!

It is not so surprising that we often find ourselves too overwhelmed with a lot of things. Many assignments due on the same time. Many readings must be accomplished in a very short time. It seems like that we don't have enough to enjoy ourselves. Is it really the case that we certainly do not have enough time to slow down? Why do few people do a lot of things in their busy times, while others even do not reach the baseline in their ample time? this is a very good question. Finding answers for this anser certainly help us shape our way of seeing this world.
Time management is a critical issue for everybody. Unfortunately, most people seem to fail to appropriately realize how important it is to realize how we make use of our time. Knowing how things should be done is a very good start. Our group arrived in Chicago four weeks ago. I often noticed how things are done around me. And how architects build houses and apartments are also one of my interest. Across the Baumhart Hall in Pearson Ave, a huge apartment is being built. At the very front of the building, the announcement says: The Future Home of St. Clare at Water Tower. I learned that the building is projected to finish in January. I was amazed. How can people be sure that the building will be accomplished on a certain day?
My imagination goes wild. When I pass the construction site, I always imagine that the architects are knowledgeable to the amount to job and technical things related to the building process. I am sure that in order to precisely predict the accomplishment of the project, they have also precisely and accurately counted all the detailed jobs to do. They have set up a rigid scheduling. They must follow a series of strict procedures. Everybody must comply with the rules and designated plans. Any single failure is very likely to cause serious problems. The jobs have been identified, calculated, and predicted. So, things are predictable. The trucks providing concrete must wait in line. Late arrival is certainly highly discouraged, because it causes a number of related problems. I keep imagining, and imagining. And I found similarities in the concept of leadership.
Being a leader means seeing what things should be done, and accomplished. He/she must assess the level of accomplishment. When things go wrong, he/she must be able to facilitate that improvement to happen. Supervising is certainly a very good thing to take into account. And leadership does not necessarily mean "great" thing. It is about our day-to-day life. We have various kinds of choices to do. We may prefer to do something earlier, and put aside other things and do them later. If we are not fully aware of this kind of habit, i.e. preferring doing things and easily tempted to put aside and leave things for the next time, it is going to be harmful for our life. We often feel overwhelmed. We always think that time is not always enough for us.
What happens with those successful people is not because they have more time to do things. I believe that it is mostly because they are able to manage their time. When we are not able to see the purpose of our life, we feel that we do not have enough challenge to do. We always feel that the assignments are still far away. We enjoy too much our days by playing around. When there are too many assignments do, so we do not have enough time to process the information.

make one's day

In the last two days, I found many interesting things. First, yesterday I came across a young gentleman attending Biology Department of Loyola University Chicago. We got acquainted to each other and spent the whole trip on the bus from Lake Shore Campus to Pearson bus stop sharing our own experiences. It was a good experience for me, because it turned out to be an interesting time for me. The name of the 19-year old gentleman, a sophomore, is Tasso. He was born in the US, but his parents are from Greek. The discussion was triggered by a small incident that I saw. A young black man crossed the street when the traffic light did not allow him to do so. The traffic was not that busy. Seeing the man in front crossed the street, a young women was provoked to do the same thing. I directly came to a quick conclusion: violating law is contagious. When we see a model to follow, it is very likely for us to follow the thing, even when we know very well that the thing is totally wrong. I told him my perspective about the thing and that was a good start for a nice talk. Finally, as I promised I sent Tasso a pie of writing that I wrote pretty long time ago, or last year. The writing is about the death of my father, and how I learned from the funeral time.

I received a quick reply. Tasso acknowledged that he started the day with a bad mood. He only had one thing to do for the day. He did a little chore for a friend, i.e. picking up his/her visa. That was all. He did not have any spirit that day. What surprised me much was his reply: he turned to be more motivated after we exchanged our experience. I remember that it is good to make a day. making a day means doing little things for other people that help them cheer up. Doing this way, we certainly help others improve many things in their lives as well.

Another thing that I learned yesterday was the time of discussion with Mary Theis. I was very grateful to be in her office in the first session. I was expected to spend only twenty minutes, but it turned out to be thirty five minutes. We had a good conversation. The things that I remember most were: first -- I told her that I am now learning how to deal with other people more appropriately. Sometimes, I feel too pushy, asking too much from other people. But, working in the group of twelve, with different characteristics, I certainly learn how to control myself. I learn how to be less pushy and more tolerant. In this way, I reduce my tension. I can be more easily adaptive as well. The second thing that I discussed with her is the idea of miracle. I told her that I wait for a miracle to happen. I will certainly stay longer here. My study requires me to stay longer and work much harder. I told her that the best arrangement for me and my family is to get here, work and gather enough money to pick my family. It is not necessarily something easy to do. IT is totally a tough thing. She replied that she had the authority to manage things to ensure that I work as an adjunct teacher/instructor. This position is not only good for my family and me, in the sense of earning money to live, but more than that, it is more important for me to get experience of working as an adjunct teacher/instructor. Working in a rich context can serve a better future for me. I could earn a meaningful experience that in turn will equip me with professional job later in my life. It means that I will have more opportunity to offer better things for more people.

In addition to two things, I also learned pitiful things in India. As usual, I listened to radio every day. By listening to radio, I obtain much knowledge and my English certainly gets improved much. I was so moved by a documentary report on India's economy and the fact that the country's economy is improving, but poverty is rampant in remote areas. It is very surprising that people suffer from economic suffering. There is an enormous economic gap in India. The report was so shocking, because the reporter went to remote area. Accompanied by a native Indian, he visited poor villages. I was so moved. Once they came across a very poor village. The villagers eat rats to survive. They do not have enough food. The reporter interviewed a woman with six children. The eldest son is ten years old. The youngest is six months old. The husband -- accompanied by the eldest son -- goes to the nearest city to get menial job, coming back once a month. At home, the wife stays with her five kids. Very often however, the kids are often left home, taken care by the second child, that is eight years old. The reason is simple, the mom works in a neighboring farmland, earning 25 pence a day. With that little money, how can the family survive? I could not help crying, I burst into tears when I heard children crying. Hunger is not unusual among them. In this country, food is everywhere. This world is highly unfair.