February 19, 2021 2 min read

I have to admit it’s so easy for me to lose focus … it comes naturally to me because I’m a “visionary” ...  or at least that’s what Coleen calls me … I think more because I leave a trail of fire wherever I go … leaving it for others to have to put out (thanks, to all those who are the FIREMEN at Holtz ... you know who you are!)

 

Coleen challenged me the other day to put on my coveralls and go out to work in the woods.  She said just watch …  I frustratedly put my work down and put on my coveralls to do some real work…

IMMEDIATELY … when the first boy saw me he said, “Diddy, (that's spanglish for dad) where are you going?” I replied that I was going out to collect rocks. (I’ll explain in a minute.)  All of a sudden all the boys were off like a shot and yelling “I’m coming too … wait for me.”  It was freezing outside and all 5 of my boys followed me out into the woods (with their coveralls) to collect rocks …

REFOCUS … /rēˈfōkəs/ verb - adjust the focus of (a lens or one's eyes).

A verb is an action and I knew I needed to adjust my priorities!  I work, work, and work all trying to establish something … but lacking balance and just like that I’m out of focus. Grateful for a wife who helps me!

Oh, about those rocks …  Living on our land we are surrounded by lots of beautiful, natural stone.  It is literally lying around all over the place and I got one of those “visionary” lightbulb ideas … We are in the process of designing our forever house and I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we incorporated these stones from our land into our house?

I struck up a conversation with the kids and told them for every sq. ft of rock they collect, I would pay them $1.  However, it had to be palletized to count. I realized I may have overpaid them when each of the boys had collected $70 worth of rock in about an hour. (This is an example of the fire; “problems” visionaries create when they don’t fully think through processes.)