at first, the idea of me blogging seemed ridiculous. i'm an introvert by nature, prone to keeping to myself. i'm a stoic, tight-lipped and taciturn. while i can be very boisterous in my opinions, only people i'm close to are typically aware of it. furthermore, the are literally millions of bloggers out there, and i don't flatter myself that my musings have any chance of gaining notice in the white noise of the blogosphere. i don't have name recognition. i don't have a clever hook. i don't have any particular area of expertise that a targeted search would lead anyone here. god only knows how you found this site. so why make the effort? what do i hope to accomplish? honestly, who gives a rat's ass what i have to say?
in response to these doubts, i recall a conversation i had with my wonderful wife. she is a senior level HR professional, a top performer responsible for the personnel issues of hundreds of people, and struggles regularly with what she should delegate, what she should facilitate, and when she has no control whatsoever. those things which she can directly affect she refers to as her "circle of influence".
when one acts effectively within one's circle of influence, she tells me, one's influence grows. it's viral. touch one person who touches three more who touch nine more and the circle expands and one finds that suddenly dozens or hundreds of people are interested in what one has to say.
do i have anything worthwhile to say? that's not up to me to decide. certainly not in this inaugural post. honestly, i'm not much concerned either way. i'm not spending this life chasing wealth, power or influence. that path looks very stressful, and i treasure my peace of mind. i'm fairly certain, though, that my wife will read it (she's a bit of a blog groupie - really, it's adorable...). maybe she'll even suggest it to someone else. if anyone gains any insight or amusement at all from my scribblings, i'll consider it to have been a worthy excercise.
boo du jour
backyard wildlife
two does outside the bedroom window
daddy x and baby d
mama x and baby d
About Me
- daddy x
- I'm an at-home dad on the edge of 40. I'm originally from RI, but been in NC for most of the last 20 years. I have a fine 9-year-old boy from an ill-considered 1st marriage, and a beautiful 1-year-old boy with my wonderful 2nd wife. We have two dogs, two cats, some fish and a turtle. I've had dozens of jobs over the years. I've slung pizza and beer. I've worked the slime line in an Alaskan cannery. I've done theatrical design, constructed museum exhibits, painted murals and portraits, built and remodeled houses, been rock-and-roll stage crew, and fronted a band. I've walked and hitched through 40 US States and 4 Canadian provinces. In my spare time (hah!) I like playing strategy games, reading history & literature, remodeling my house, building furniture, drawing and painting. For the past year, however, I've spent most of my time feeding, cleaning, changing, washing, reading, playing, cooking, and everything but sleeping...
2 comments:
Working wthin circles of influence? How I love the concept and wish I did better job because of its obvious stress relief benefits.
But babe.. for the record, I didn't come up with the philosophy. No - that would be the infamous Stephen Covey and his own very popular scribblings, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"!
Oh, and I, for one, give a FAT rat's ass what you have to say :)
Happy Blogging.
Having known you for around thirty years now I would say you have plenty of interesting things to blog about.
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