Reflections, Part 2

In my last post, I made a statement that stayed with me, and made me think.

I said, "Victims respond. Winners make a  plan and follow it." Is that true? Aren't we supposed to be responders in certain areas of life? Isn't response a manifestation of the human, empathetic side of us?

Yes, to all of the above.

Several years ago I read a book called "Margin:  Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives," by Dr. Richard Swenson (2004). It changed my life, and I highly recommend it. Dr. Swenson is a Christian and a medical doctor, and the premise of his book is that we plan for response. 

Planned response isn't a sporadic knee-jerk reaction shared with humanity at large in shotgun fashion. Planned response, rather, looks something like this:

Suppose God has gifted you with an ability and love for helping others in need. Then you would want to be prepared with financial and/or time reserves that would allow you to offer help in those areas as a need arises. In other words, save up your money, and don't schedule every last minute of your time. Now you have planned for response. When the family two doors down loses their job, you have both the financial resources and the time reserves to buy and deliver a bag of groceries. You have margin in your time and money.

So, I'm sticking with what I said in my last post. Winners do make a plan and follow it, but that plan wisely builds in margin for the unexpected. In contrast, victims have no margin. Victims let life happen to them, then cry about the results they don't achieve.

I want to be a winner. I want the safety of a plan. I want the gift of margin.

So...let's go do it!