Letters to My Children. Do Overs 2

Dear Mark, Christina, Melissa, Robbie, Keith and Tiffany - 

Yesterday, I posted the first six things that I would do over if I could. Today's 
post finishes the list.

If Do Overs really were possible, I would:

Listen to intuition more often. I look back at life and realize that my intuition was right more often than it was wrong, and I should have followed by gut rather than second-guess my original decisions. I think some of the failure to follow intuition was my relatively young age for the leadership positions I held and the lack of a mentor - at church or in the business world.

Initiate more conversation with superiors. Because I never had a mentor, I learned how to manage my boss on my own. I should have involved him in some of my decisions; and with his involvement some of the resistance to changes I wanted to make would have been eliminated.

Encourage more input from peers and subordinates. I always thought I was open and receptive to input from everyone I worked with. I now realize that the perceived power of my position kept many who had good input from sharing that input. Had I been more encouraging, some would have provided much needed corrective feedback. Because I received very little negative input, I thought I was good.  Really good. Now I know better.

Celebrate more special moments in life. I have always tended to focus on the half empty portion of the glass - the difference between actual and perfection. I now realize that it is important to celebrate success while continuing to work for improvements. This is true in business, church and non profits. Heaven celebrates when anyone is saved, and we should celebrate also.

Pay less attention to programs and processes and more to relationships. I am task oriented. I like To Do lists. I don't like idle chit chat. At least I didn't until a few years ago when I realized that talking with others is a necessary step in building a relationship. I now know that life is nothing but relationships - with God as Father, with my family, with friends and with others in my marketplace. At the end of this life, I won't be worried about To Do lists, but I will regret not having a better relationship with many people I have known through the years. 

I regret not having said "I love you" often enough to you (my children) and to Mary.

Travel a little slower and enjoy the journey more. Family. Music and photography. I regret that I did not lead us on family vacations when you were young. I thought I had to work. I wish that I had acted on my joy of photography earlier in life. I wish that I had kept my piano skills in better shape. 

My goal now is to live so that I don't need so many Do Overs. I can enjoy the Journey going forward. And I am enjoying each day. Vacation time with 18 people as a group and as families, music, photography, a little travel, relationships with people, trying to follow God's plan in my marketplace.

Not only is live very enjoyable, but it is also exciting.

God has blessed me so much, and in my last quarter of life I want to demonstrate my love for Him and others. Not because I have to live this way,but because I want to live this way.