Eddie Marmol

We usually get in trouble with our to-do’s when we over promise. We put too much on our plate, we make far more commitments than we have the time, resources, or ability to deliver on.

In the United States and many industrialized nations, we’re drowning in activity. Most of us have more than a safe number of plates spinning in the air: reports due, projects to manage, meetings to attend, doctor visits, home/auto maintenance, school activities, family responsibilities, finances… It’s no wonder that we plop on the sofa after a late dinner and just veg out.

Should we send the children to the large, public elementary school, or to a smaller but expensive private school? Should I accept an offer for a higher-paying managerial job and give up the hands-on involvement, or stay at my current level and salary, but do work that I love? Should I go to graduate school now and finish in 18 months, or enter the workforce and go to grad school at night, but finish in 3-4 years?

It was late after dinner, almost bedtime, when my son, a first-grader, informed me in a distressed tone of voice that he had not done his school homework, which was due the next morning. Instinctively, I asked him “what are you going to do about it?”