I used to be a school band teacher before I got into retail sales. I remember once a few years ago, I had just started a new job at a school in Minnesota. We were outside practicing parade marching when all of the sudden, I heard a loud scream and a noise coming from the back of the band.
I rushed over to see what was wrong. One of my tuba players had dropped his tuba on the concrete. I asked what happened. He said a bee was either chasing him or stung him (I can’t remember for sure) I asked him if he was all right. He seemed nervous and said yes. I asked him if he was allergic to bees and he said no. I made sure that everything was all right with him, and then he picked up his tuba and we got back to practice.
Not once did I yell at him for dropping the tuba on the concrete. I wasn’t even upset about it. My concern was for him and his safety.
Now, I realize that to some, a bee sting is no big deal. Some might think that I would have been livid about him dropping a $3000 tuba on the concrete. MANY of the kids were shocked at my response to not even address the dropping of the tuba. Frankly, I wasn’t concerned at all.
You see, tubas can be fixed. But if a student under my care is hurt, I am very concerned.
I had a parent of a different student come into my office several days later and comment to me that her daughter was very impressed by my response to the tuba player. She said that other teachers would have yelled at the student for possibly damaging the tuba. My response to her was simple.
“People are more important than things.”
As I have said before, I work for a cellular telephone company called Alltel. I and my fiancee both own Blackberries. I also use an HTC Touch phone for my work phone. One of the dangers with having a Blackberry is that it is SO addicting. It really IS an all-in-one device. From it, I can send and receive email, text and picture messages, instant message people all over the world (I regularly chat with my chess-playing buddy Kenny from Scotland and have just recently acquired a Blackberry buddy in London named Peter). I can get maps from google, play chess right on the phone with Kenny, google various key words to find information, etc.
The problem that I have with the Blackberry is control. Who is in control? Me, or the Blackberry? I constantly have to be careful to prioritize my time and attention, as I am easily distracted due to my ADD. There are times where I have to silence my Blackberry (like when I am in church) so as not to be distracted or be a distraction to others.
This leads me to my main point here. Like I said in the tuba player story, people are more important than things. Part of being a successful person in life is being in control of yourself. If you don’t take an active role in that, you will find that you will give up that control to others by default. Be ever mindful of this fact. When a loved one is trying to get your attention and you are buried in your Blackberry, your TV, your computer, or whatever else it is that has your attention, you need to make a choice. Are you going to choose the person, or the thing?
I don’t think there are many, if any, people who wish they had spent more time at work rather than being with their family. But there are PLENTY of people who regret spending too much time at work and not enough time with their family.
Success in life is not so much defined by what you have, but what you DO with what you have, and with WHOM you do it with. If I had a million dollars but could not spend time with my family, I would not see myself as successful.
So the next time you are paying more attention to THINGS rather than the people around you, remember this successful formula:
People are more important than things.
More another time,
Tim Jensen
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