Thursday
August 14, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Knowledge in motion

That night my daughter was still working on her homework as I got ready for bed.

"Why do I do this to myself?" she asked, looking from her homework to the clock.

"Did you know I wrote my master's thesis on procrastination?" I asked.

"Did you really?"

"Yep.  Here's the deal, procrastination can be very rewarding.  You put off doing something that makes you anxious, which is sort of a reward. If you're successful, there's a rush of excitement as you finish at the very last minute. You pay a price in stress because it hangs over your head, and you know you're not doing your best work."

"But if you know that's what you're doing to yourself, why would you keep doing it?"

"Knowing something isn't enough.  Knowledge isn't power unless it's put in motion."

"And we put off putting into motion our knowledge of procrastination?"

"It's a vicious cycle," I said, kissing her goodnight.

"You're not going to stay up with me?"

"I don't want to put off going to sleep," I said.  "Trying to break that procrastination cycle."

Today I will try to put knowledge into motion.

  

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Freebie

This week's freebie is the Kindle version of Home Groupies a daily message book in the form of a novella.  It is available at  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S.


To read Kindle books on a PC or Mac, you can download a free app at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

 AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6815785-authentically-yours

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

Selfish Unselfishness

I was sitting in the basement, writing on my laptop, when my son came in through the garage door.  I read the previous chapter aloud to him.

"There's another message here," I said to my son.  "Do you know what it is?"

"Come in through the front door so you don't have to help your dad with his writing projects?"

"No.  It's better to do unselfish things for selfish reasons, than selfish things for what seem like unselfish reasons."

"What's the difference if it all works out in the end?" he asked. 

"If I start by doing something unselfish, no matter what the reason, somebody is likely to benefit. That's just the nature of unselfish acts.  They benefit others. There's no such thing as an unselfish act that hurts someone. It's a bonus if it benefits me. But, if do something selfish first, there's a good chance it will harm the other guy, and it may or may not benefit me."

"Uh huh.  I see your point.  Can you give me $10?"

"Why would I do that?"

"It's an unselfish act that will benefit me, and maybe make you feel better about yourself."

Today I will do something unselfish first.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose