Don't Forget to Take Out the Garbage

Bang, clang and a loud hum...the garbage truck is here! Panic set in as I realized that I had not put out our overflowing garbage cans. I jumped up from my office in the front of the house, ran to the back and opened the carport doors. I could hear the garbage truck was close, so I grabbed both cans and began quickly racing down the driveway with our garbage. There went the truck, right past our house.

These crews on our route must be paid by the pound as they are the fastest I have ever seen. By the time I got to the end of the driveway, they were already pulling away from my neighbor’s house and headed on down the street. I was in a panic thinking about CeCe seeing that I had missed the garbage truck (again). Thankfully, one of the guys on the back saw me and my dire situation and waved to the driver to stop. I kept running with the cans and proceeded right down the middle of the street. I caught up to them and breathlessly began to thank them for stopping. I knew if this garbage wasn’t gone, CeCe would be all over me. She had reminded me the night before, but I got busy and forgot. 

We also shouldn’t take lightly the garbage (our bad daily habits) that we collect in our work lives. My desperate race to dump our garbage cans reminded me of how often I wait until I am failing or falling short of expectations or missing important goals before I urgently begin to change my bad habits. Why does it take a looming deadline to force me to focus on the deliverable? We are at our best when we schedule the right focused time to work on things. What self-imposed distractions am I creating? What important matters are being swept aside with urgent but less important matters?

We all have garbage that piles up. These bad habits come back and begin to stink when we allow them to sit unattended. Just as I am sure some neighbors got a chuckle out of me running through the neighborhood with my garbage cans, our team members also see our bad habits. What garbage do we need to dump today so we are not chasing the garbage truck in front of everyone?