Mayors Corner 6/25/20

Dear Friends:

Last week, Richfield Reaper Editor David Anderson spoke to our Rotary Club about the news business.  How do each of us get our news?  How does it influence us?

David said that we tend to gravitate to news sources that support or substantiate our own feelings and opinions about issues and ideas.  It’s important that we take the time to be truly informed.  It doesn’t hurt to look at things from a different perspective once in a while.  I’m so pleased that we have a local newspaper and a local radio station (KSVC) that check their sources and sincerely try to be fair and balanced in their reporting.

Each of us choose each day, each hour, and in fact, each and every moment how we spend our time.  If we don’t plan these moments, we defer to someone else to do it for us.

Are there things that you can’t control?  Certainly.  There are inevitable moments of interruption.  If you work for someone, you naturally allow your employer to plan out some of your precious time.  Even if you work for yourself, you quickly discover that the best laid plans are often set aside because the real world encroaches. 

Years ago an older friend encouraged me to do certain things while I still had the youth to do it.  I didn’t fully understand what he meant until recently.  Something I had always wanted to do became available.  I finally had the time to do it, but my enthusiasm had waned.  Part of it was my ability to get around, but part was also that my imagination and anticipation has suffered.

So how do we make sure we do the important things at the right times.  The answer is obvious and it doesn’t take the effort I expected.  It’s called priorities.  It’s simply a matter of putting essential things first and being consciously willing to put some good non-essential things on a “get-it-done-when-I-have-time list.”

The summer season can be so demanding on each of us.  I encourage you to make a list and prioritize the items that should or must be done right away.  I’m pretty sure you will see that social media is way down on the list (or maybe not on the list at all).  You may find you have more time than you think.

Make time for what’s important.  Sometimes you don’t get a second chance.

Mayor David Ogden