Five Spring Lessons

I've learned a lot this spring. Not all of the lessons have been fun, but they're all important. I thought I'd share a bit what's been going on in my life.

Lesson One: I don't have time to take two classes. Last spring I did fine with two classes, but as the courses get more difficult and my pastoral role gets more demanding taking two seminary classes at once is more than I can handle. This semester it caused me to not sleep as much as I'd like, not see my wife as much as I'd like, not plan and write as much as I'd like. Take away: no more than one Asbury class each semester.

Lesson Two: I love meeting people that I've connected with online. I've always maintained relationships online, but this spring I got the opportunity to make some cool new friends that I later met in person. If you've been reading this blog or following me on twitter and we've never met, see the next lesson.

Lesson Three: Prioritization matters. I've booked some speaking/training engagements in the later part of the year and I really want to control how much time I'm away from home. The schedule filling up means that I need to make a short list of events I really want to attend this year. After a great week at Q I've made a list. Right now I'm planning to be at:

  • Cultivate (October 27) – Where culture, innovation and communication meet. I'm excited to see where this conversation based event leads me.
  • Dirt (November 10-11) – Creative conference looking to break the mold of creative conferences for the church.
  • I'll also be in Wilmore, KY for the week of August 10 for a class at Asbury.

    Events that are on the list, but still not 100% on the calendar:

  • MinistryCOM (September 10-11 ) – Probably not going to make it to MinistryCOM this year, but I might still squeeze it into the schedule.
  • Innovate 2009 (September 24-25) – I've loved going to Innovate for the past several years. I've got another event on the 25th and 26th which means I'm probably not going to Innovate this year.
  • Story (October 28-29) – Ben Arment's latest project looks really interesting. How do we tell the greatest story ever?
  • MAX
    (October 4-7 ) – I think I've only missed one of these (counting back to the 1997 Macromedia UCON). I love the designer/developer community/content at this event and it's great creative
    inspiration from the marketplace. It's a bit spendy though.

Lesson Four: I feel better when I eat right and exercise. This is absolutely a no-brainer, but I've found that the busier I get the first thing that goes is exercise followed by good eating habits. I'm slightly embarrassed by the number of days this spring my lunch has been a bag of chips or some cookies.

Lesson Five: Relationships matter more than tasks. This is one that is a real challenge for me. I'm incredibly type A and very task driven. The more stressed I get the more likely I am to let relational/emotional intelligence issues slide. I'm really thankful for a group of friends and coworkers that both understand how my personality works and are willing to tell me when I'm being a jerk.

Bonus Lesson: There's nothing quite like being able to work from a patio in 75° weather. I'm glad that it's an option some days.

What have you learned this spring?