Chapter 9

I wanted a more definite answer as to how to prioritize or deciding what to do at the moment, but the plain and simple answer is to “trust your heart!” (191).  There may not be a wrong or right, or it can be learned through trial-and-error if those situations ever come up again in the future. 

Things got even more personal in this chapter as the focus was really on myself, and how I am going to get where I want to be.  Things change in the future, but we can plan and try to go toward that end goal.  I have not yet decided why I’m on the planet or why I exist as Allen brings up these thoughts in the reading.  Can we even know the answers to these questions?  However, that has a lot to do with knowing who you want to be.  I am always cautious with big life decisions, because I want to be happy with what I am striving toward (e.g. career).  My fear is that I will be wasting time getting stuck in something I am not happy with, and having to start over.  “You can have all the other levels of your life and work shipshape, defined, and organized to a T.  Still, if you’re the slightest but off course in terms of what at the deepest level you want to are called to be doing, you’re going to be uncomfortable” (209).  I really like this quote from the book, because in order to enjoy what we do in life we need to find the appropriate niche that suits us. 

I agree with Allen that “people are actually more comfortable dealing with surprises and crises than they are taking control of processing, organizing, reviewing, and assessing that part of their work that is not as self-evident” (197).  When we have a lot on our plate, it forces us to stay on top of things because there is no time to stop.  When I used to be on the Cal Dragonboat team, I would constantly feel exhausted going between practices and schoolwork.  The added time commitment to the sport caused me to feel busier.  Then I would have to study because I wouldn’t have enough time later on.  I feel like we always say to ourselves ‘If I didn’t have ____ (activity), I would do better in ____(academics) because I’d have more time to devote to it”.  However, when I do get that free time, I tend to not be as productive.  The sense of urgency is not there as much.  All that built up stress from constantly being busy makes me want to relax once I can.  I am learning to create healthy urgency or discipline to push me into productivity instead of being idle. 

When I read the chapter 2 the first time, the six-level model of reviewing wasn’t totally clear to me.  However, reading this chapter helped as Allen went through each elevation in detail in terms of its relation to how each level complement each other in a bottom up way of thinking.