Mobile Edition
Print
Get the Mag
Weekly UpdatesPressure to succeed, time lines to meet, lives to live, and an ever-changing environment that challenges us all to stay light on our feet. On any given day, we need to handle all the essentials of our jobs and attend to the multitude of crises that occur.
Each of us is a link in an interdependent chain, so each link must play its part for the chain to be strong. In a typical day, there are so many demands that finding the time to appreciate each other and the quality of work that gets done seems impossible. The telephone rings 1,000 times a day, and each caller is important. On top of the calls, meetings spring up suddenly to complicate the day as we strive to be our best. When we add the normal frustrations of daily life--like the rising costs of gasoline, groceries, and health care and the computer that refuses to work no matter what we try--it begins to feel like a hassle even to stop and enjoy the camaraderie we share.
Priorities leapfrog over one another, each trying to assert its need to be attended to first. On any given day, we Department of Defense (DoD) financial managers face issues such as the many people on travel who need assistance with their charge cards, flights, or hotels or suspenses on congressional correspondence that must be answered in order to ensure continued funding. Underscoring it all is the knowledge that somewhere--like Afghanistan or Iraq--there are people risking or losing their lives in defense of what we serve. The challenges can seem insurmountable and, unless we take charge, we all can become a different kind of casualty--one of overstress, overwork, over commitment, or difficulty in defining success.
For many of us, there is a long commute and more than a few cold dinners wrapped in the refrigerator when we get home. Some of us start to feel that taking time off during the week or really enjoying a weekend is like cheating on the job. But on the other side of that dilemma, there is the feeling that we are shortchanging our families when we are at work.
So where is the good news? It begins with the understanding that we're all in this together. The desire to be successful, to be seen as a valuable team member or the "best darn wingman possible," is one we all share.
We are the ones to make sure we are proud of ourselves. The ingredients are all within us to meet these challenges--if we can find balance so that we are not trying to do more while we make ourselves crazy thinking that we are not doing enough. In a time of dwindling resources (including time), it becomes more important to make time for the things that help us to remain strong, proud, and capable. For me, I have an image in my mind of an afternoon when I called home to arrange a dinner picnic on the lake with my family. I hold tight to the feeling of being in my kayak, whispering along a glass-smooth piece of lake. Taking time or making time that is dedicated to the restoration of our internal resources is not as self-centered as it may seem on the surface. Recharging our batteries is as important as breathing.
If the keys to success are within each of us, then working as a team, we all benefit when we appreciate the work we collectively accomplish. It may seem simple, but thinking about how much we appreciate others is just the first step. Our thoughts need to become our actions so that we can tell our coworkers that we are thinking of them or that we appreciate their efforts.
Internal strength is like a rechargeable battery; even when it is almost drained of resources, a quick infusion of positive thoughts can bring it back to a good level. On that note, let me extend my congratulations to all in the ASMC Yankee Chapter on achieving the Five Star Chapter status. It took the concerted and amazing efforts of so many people that I hope they know who they are, or this newsletter might be 40 pages long.
So maybe, this evening or weekend, we should make a point to resist the temptation to log onto our work computers every time we have the thought that we should. Instead, we can do something we enjoy so that we feel revived tomorrow. For the appreciation, let's take one moment and read slowly to savor the words: Today, Your Hard Work Is Appreciated.
Your ASMC Yankee Chapter values everything you do for this country, this mission, and this chapter. Congratulations, team; well done, Wingman. Thank you to all those who find themselves the leaders or who step forward to the responsibility. Truly, you are of vital importance to the mission, never more so than when you are stepping into the challenge. Pass on the thank-you to your families, who are pieces of our mission--families within families.
Rodney L. Arndt, CDFM
(Reprinted by permission from the author The original appeared in an American Society of Military Comptrollers Yankee Chapter newsletter.)
FEED