Too Many E-mails? Or Too Much of A Good Thing to the Expense of other Good Things?

Okay! Right here at the outset I will admit that I spend a fair bit of my time, both working and non-working, on the computer. Mostly however, on Church work or communicating with other people, even if some times, just by forwarding (what I consider) interesting e-mails.

Talking of forwarded e-mails, sometimes I get a lot of them at once and then none for a while. When I get them, I normally judge whether they are worth forwarding or simply deleting after reading. If worth forwarding, I do immediately do so and then delete them, thus keeping my inbox low and manageable. Thus sometimes I forward a lot one day and few at others.

At one time of receiving and forwarding many such e-mails, I received a reply, part of which I copy here. “Hi Walter: It is hard to know which of your emails are too many. There are ones you forward which I enjoy and in fact can use in my congregation's monthly paper. I guess I don't need the very likely theologically accurate ones which you send "because you are my friend and you need to send it on to everyone you know." I am sure you recognise the style.
My real concern is that it would appear that you spend much time in front of your computer. I would like to challenge you to contemplate whether this time is the best way to spend your time and whether it advances Christ's kingdom in Croydon: Best wishes: *** “
There are a few issues there that I would like to address here from this.

1. I really appreciate his honesty and willingness to put himself on the line to help me. So to him and every one else out there reading this, if you think I am wrong anywhere, or in need of some correction somewhere, no matter how minor, please feel free to let me know. Nicely, like this friend of course.

2. Whilst it is undoubtable true that I spend more time on my computer than my friend, it is also true that I also don’t have the same pull of many other outside activities like he does to have to apportion an appropriate larger share my time with either. In a rented house with a well-established garden like we are here, there is not a lot to do there and certainly over the summer it was mostly too hot and dry to do much anyway, so I have more free time than some others.

3. A lot of the time I spend on my computer and an in ordinate amount of time at that, is actually spent working on creating my sermons. This is one aspect of my life that has never changed: the amount of time I need to work on my sermons. Fortunately the Computer and its ability to cut and paste things, does actually save me a lot of time too, but I still do spend a lot of time composing them, so a bit of a break now and then to check e-mails is actually appreciated and is a break to me at least.
4. Also, as we only have a small congregation at the moment and most of them work and as I am out/busy most nights, I use the e-mail system a lot to stay in touch with many, it is almost impossible to visit or even ring mid-week.

Thus, while I do perhaps spend more time on my computer than many others, I don’t believe that I am wasting or misusing most of that time, but rather that I have been able to use it to the maximum of my talents, thus allowing my talents to be maximally used.

Enough about me though! What about you? Are you spending too much time on your computer or even on any one single aspect of your life or occupation? Do you too need a friend to make you query and assess your current performance? If so please let me be that friend and let me humbly ask you whether you are spending too much time on one thing and not enough time on others? And while I am at is let me also ask you what you plan and can do about the result? Over to you for now: Walter

Mrs. Gardener.

Many years ago, in the prime of their working lives, my friend and his wife decided that farming was not the way they wanted to spend their lives and so they sold the farm and bought a house on a five acre block on the edge of a large rural town. Building a large shed on the property and being a little mechanical minded and loving big toys, he decided that there was a market for a single operator business using an excavator and later a small Bobcat and so went into the earthmoving business from home. Which was great for him, but what about his wife?

Like her husband who used his abilities and preferences to start a new career doing something he loved, she decided to use her talents and love of gardening to turn the bare five acres into a veritable plant paradise.

Over this time she has bought, traded and acquired many, many plants and through her, many others including yours truly, have added new plants and colours to their gardens. She has used her gardening talents to not only make a garden that is an enjoyment to themselves but also one that others benefit from too. There have been a couple of open gardens there, with the proceeds going to local Charities; and many excess plants have been sold at Fetes and the such, to raise funds for worthy causes, plus she regularly supplies flowers for her Church and also for friends and family and even the occasional wedding.

Although there has been no need to turn this talent into a personal money making scheme, she has still been able to enrich the community and the lives of others through this practical use of her talents; so that both she and others get enjoyment and benefit from her love of gardening. Of course gardening is not her only interest or occupation, but one she uses to the benefit of the many, free of charge.

What about us? Are we as free to give, when we can, or do we see every thing we do only in terms of what it brings to us financially? Can we perhaps learn a little from Mrs. Gardener and use some of our talents to help others while at the same time extending and using our own special talents and loves? What say you? Walter

Mr Earthmover Upgrades Regularly.

As I told you, many years ago my friend and his wife decided that farming was not the way they wanted to end their lives and so sold the farm and moved into earthmoving as a sole operator business.

Although he is quite mechanical minded and more than able to do much of his own maintenance on his own machinery, he does not overwork his equipment until it drops. He uses his equipment for two or three thousand hours each, and then replaces them. Sometimes, like in the early years, he used these times to upgrade the size of his equipment, now simply to replace like size with like size. Using this policy of not over working his machinery and doing his own regular maintenance, he has an exemplary reliability record, with very little time lost to mechanical problems, which leaves him highly sought after, as people know that there will be very few “lost working hours” when he is on their jobs.

What about you? Are you looking after your equipment, whether it be actual tools or your own body? Or do you work yourself and your equipment into the ground and then wonder why you have so many problems?

Mr Earthmover upgrades and maintains his equipment regularly and it pays off for him and I can see no reason why it can’t do the same for us too, if we follow his lead! Can you?

Mr Earthmover.

Many years ago, in the prime of his working life, my friend and his wife decided that farming was not the way they wanted to end their lives and so sold the farm and decided to do something else. Initially they decided to buy a caravan and work there way around Australia for a few years. This soon wore a bit thin and they returned to their hometown and pondered his next career move.

Being a little mechanical minded and loving big toys, he decided that there was a market for a single operator business using an excavator and later a small Bobcat. At the time there was none and so he decided he could both fill the market and make a good living from it. He thought it a great idea but others at the time thought he was crazy!

However he was right and he was soon successful. So much so that others also moved into this new opportunity soon flooding the market place. So, rather than entering into a price war with them, he simply up-sized his plant and filled the empty opportunity notch at the next level, in the same business, whilst still maintaining his sole operator business status.

Now, many years later he is still at it and as busy as ever with no shortage of call back work.

Mr Earthmover was able to make a successful career change, using both his past experience of using farm equipment, along with his love for machinery and an eye for a future opportunity. When he decided to change careers, he took a risk by going into business for himself in a newish field. Yet, he was prepared to take chances and set the agenda, and when others followed, was prepared to adapt again and look for new opportunities rather than fight over ever diminishing old opportunities. Hence he is still in business and flourishing while others aren’t so fortunate.

What about you? Are you looking for new opportunities or stuck in a rut? Do you fight for an ever-diminishing market, or seek for new ones? In other words, ”Do you embrace the future or hoard the past?”

Mr Pie-Man.

I have a Riddle rhyme for you along the lines of “Peter Piper picked a peck of Pickled Peppers.”

“If Mr Pieman baked a heap of various pies every day,

How many pies would Mr Pie-man have baked over 30 years?”

Not even he knows but that is how long my friend the Pie-man has been baking pies for his own Business, either in partnership with his brother or like now as sole owner.

These days with just 3 bakers in the backroom and only working 6 days a week they still churn out daily 60 to 80 dozen for there own shop sales. Until a few years back they were also selling wholesale and had 9 bakers in the backroom and working 7 days a week.

Now you would, well I would think that after that length of time the last thing he would want to see on Holidays is another pie. Not so!

When he goes on holidays he seeks out other pie/Bake shops and samples their wares, always on the lookout for new ideas and tastes. A few years back when we visited him, he had even come across a Spaghetti pie. No I never tried it and these days it is no longer on the menu, however he was game to try something new, are we so minded too?

That is one of the reasons he has stayed in business so long. He is always prepared to improve his product line, trying new ideas where appropriate, keeping those that work and discarding those that don’t, but always open to change if and when necessary.

What about you and me? In my previous blog I indicated that I am not always keen to do that and sometimes pay the price for it. What about you?

Do you love what you are doing and always eager to seek out new ideas, sometimes even discarding them before putting into action but always after assessing them first, like Mr Pieman? Or are you like me, and need to be dragged kicking and screaming almost, into not just the future, but also even the present? If so what can we do about it? As I wrote recently to a friend it is easy to talk about something but often hard to start, as we often don’t know the first step. So what are the first steps to improving yourself?

Basically it is about finding out what really motivates you, like Mr Pieman and His pies, and then doing your apprenticeship so to speak. He didn’t just one day decide to go into business for himself. No! He did his time as an Apprentice Baker then worked for two or 3 others for a few years gaining experience to go with his knowledge and then when going into business for himself, kept himself open to new ideas and improvements and now 30 some years down the track he is still going and even going better than ever.

Are we prepared to put the time and effort into the things we do? Or are we after instant results, and when they don’t come, walk away or worse stay at it but with no interest or enthusiasm? I know now where I stand and am doing something about it, even though it means walking away from one thing and going back to another. What are your thoughts on your present situation? Are you happy with it or do you realize something needs to change? If so find that first step and take it, but don’t rush the journey. Take the appropriate time and measures and enjoy the trip. Walter