Monday, March 20, 2006

In Search of a Pat on the Ass...

A few months ago I ran into an old friend who lives here in Waco, but who I don't really see that often. We exchanged the obligatory "What are you up to?" 's and "Have you heard from?" 's. Somewhere in the conversation it came up that there was this lady who had become his Life Coach. I gave the obligatory "That's cool." I'm quite sure the tone of my "That's cool," suggested that a.) I didn't know what the hell a Life Coach was and b.) I didnt' really think it was cool to have one.

Today after work I had my weekly Monday afternoon game of racquetball with Nathan. I came home, grabbed a bite to eat, then began to prepare for the writing group I'm a part of. On my way out the door I was thinking about my day and my week and the Annie Dillard quote that used to adorn Myles' blog that read "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

I'm loving the way I spend my days these days. I cram in work and a little excersise. I try to read a little and catch up with the news. I try to get all that out of the way so I can spend time with people I love and who love me, like the three kids whose fingers I'm wrapped around and people who tend to celebrate birthdays once a year, like Harris did today.

But in the middle of it I'm getting the feeling that my days are getting a bit too crowded. I've had my ego stroked enough that I want to spend more time writing. There are financial goals I'm just now considering fullfilling, like getting a lot of bills paid and exploring the possibilty of purchasing a house in the next couple of years.

The spirit is willing, you know the rest.

As I was driving I had this thought: I need a Life Coach-- Someone to tell me what to do and when to do it. I need someone who can take my erratic work schedule that comes out once a week, scan through it, and begin planning the next couple of weeks for me. This person would call all the people I should spend time with and work my shedule out with theirs. They would tell me when I should be writing, when I should be sleeping, and how many miles I should run on a given day. I'd wake up in the morning, walk out the door and they'd yell "We went over this yesterday, remember? You can do it buddy! Go get 'em Tiger," and then slap my ass as I got into my car.

Anyone interested in the position? If you were my Life Coach, what would you tell me to do?

4 comments:

ben said...

Craig, i would like to officially put in my resume to be your life coach. i love telling people what to do, i tend to think i know it all and i feel it is easier to tell others what they need to do than to actually do things for myself. The first thing I would tell you to do is to clean your room and your car. and i have experience with slapping people on the ass, just ask your mom! ahahahaha ahh ahha hahaha ahhaa

Craig said...

My car is clean and your mom has never said anything about my dirty room-- in fact she's never had any problems with anything dirty that goes on in there, so I'll keep it as it is.

ahahahhhahahahahahaha

greenISgood said...

I'd tell you to: a) pay yourself first, and b) clear everything off your calendar for poker night and then pay me, and c) slapya' own ass, (it's cute but I ain't touching it). But I wouldn't be much help with anything else.

Gosh! Your all's mamas sure get around.....

jenA said...

um, i'm not saying anything about anyone's ass or mom here. it's awkward.
pay off your debt.
set aside money and build up a 3-months' savings (what you'd pay for rent and utilities). have your taxes adjusted so you're not lending your money to the government for 15 months every year.
Look into neighborhood housing services, they often offer low-cost or no-cost closing and even low dp for first-time homebuyers.
Exercise as often as you feel up to it.
Get your job done first, your regular commitments second, chores third, and your writing done before your blogging.
You'll have a manuscript and a house to mail it from in no time.