Deputy Director Report

By John Reblin

The body knows what it wants and needs. Start pushing it a little too much, it pushes back. Your body does not just like to change of any kind.  But with the right guidance, you can twist and shape it to accomplish what your goal is. I knew this fact but didn’t give it any regard I would guess about a year or two ago. I started doing some walking, both for physical and mental health improvement. You know lose a little weight, give the heart a little exercise, and also to give my mind some quiet time. Time to un-clutter what is going on and to plan out my day. So, for me it is up early and after my coffee I, depending on the weather, hit the treadmill or hit the asphalt. Getting going in the early morning, I rarely see anyone coming down the street, and enjoy the time, and quiet. Just me and the birds and an occasional deer.

Always up for a challenge during these walks I thought, hey – let’s throw in some slow jogging. Let’s try and see what this old heart has in it yet, you know let’s show those younger people yeah, an old guy can still do it.”  So, I would walk a few minutes then jog maybe one minute just seeing how it felt. This went on for a few weeks and I decided hey this feels pretty good let’s try for some more distance in the jogging area. Changing up my shoes, spending a little more, getting a little more cushion a better fit made me feel that I had this handled.  I decided to try a mile and so far, so good. The next day I tried again, no problems. I got cocky and tried again, and then the pain hit me. Sharp pain in both of my feet I limped home and tried to correct the pain I was feeling with some ice, stretching and rest. Well that didn’t work and I have been battling some Plantar Fasciitis along with a little Achilles Tendon pain. I learned that my lack of stretching, going too far, and too fast my body pushed back. It is getting better but it reminded me of the lesson: not to push too much too soon, cuz it is going to bite you. And the bite may be hard. I finally understood the planning that is needed when you want to make change. You need to set the goal no matter if it is doing a 5k a marathon or just getting to the corner and back in the early morning. You need to make a training plan on how you are going to achieve the set goal. Training for a 5K, 3 miles and some change, is a lot easier than the road time needed for the marathon, 26.2 miles. Do you even have the time to do what you set your mind for?  What else is going to get into the equation, plans cutting into your training, also throw in age, injury and recovery on all this. And most important when do you want to attempt what you have trained for.  All these little things that can wreak havoc on your goals. Having a plan helps you achieve the goals, If you don’t figure on some failure or a hiccup you are going to quit and just go back to sitting on the couch.

Working my day job and doing what I do for this organization I find this also fits in moving things forward. Just like my body pushed back at the sudden change people push back at a sudden change. You go to work and management comes up to you with a change in the way you do something. Or maybe the customer wants a different way of doing something. It just doesn’t seem right to change the way you feel comfortable, so you push back as much as you feel is safe for you to remain employed.

But what about in this organization what if you, a member or board member, have an idea? Well it works here also. You need to do your homework. Figure out what you want, who it is going to affect, and what is the end result. Write it down, well ok scribble up some notes on how you would do it if you were in charge. You need to make a plan, a roadmap of what you want to achieve and how do you/we arrive there.  What is it going to cost, or what are you going to charge? Who does it affect and how do you make the transition as easy as possible, get some of those people  who will be affected by the change involved. How are you going to share your idea with the public, and what is the upside of doing this? Run your idea past others and get their feedback, listen to suggestions to changes. Try to see and understand the con to doing this along with seeing the pro to your idea, and is the plan still workable.  Find the person that heads up the committee and explain what you got and explain how it would work and what you think the results will affect the organization.  And maybe from there the two or three or more if needed can come out with a workable plan that can help out the organization, business or your home. When all this planning work is done hopefully you will have a written plan you can take to the board and maybe just maybe you can it implemented.

I think working things out, planning and talking it over with those involved, like my attempt at running is less painful and more successful than running without a plan and hoping it works. It’s easy to quit running, but you feel better when you stick to a workable plan and achieve your goal.

John