The Reformation

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred

The Reformation

Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits.
Mark Twain

One of the great things about a routine is it does predict what will happen during the week. Working is a great way to get into the habit of doing some of the same things everyday. Get to work, get going, go to lunch, finish up, go home. We even end up doing some of the same things every night.

Changing what we do is often very hard. Once we are in the grips of habit, it is very hard not to stop and have the giant soda every morning. We get to know the people at the store, get used to the drive, and find ourselves in the same place every day.

When I was a junior in high school, I used to have the same lunch every day, even though it wasn’t very healthy. If you have had a Suzy Q, a delicious Hostess product, you know the whipped cream center surrounded by devil’s food cake is not the best daily lunch. Chase that sugary goodness with a little Fanta Orange soda, and you have the preferred lunch of my 11th grade year. I can even see myself sitting on the steps of the old Jordan High School at about the same time every day.

Routine is good for us if we want to earn a living. When we are working for others, showing up on time and leaving at the appropriate time are considered good behaviors. Completing our work is usually a good indication we will keep the job, and routine can help us get things done.

I find I get the most done early in the morning, but that might be because my job allows time to prepare in the morning. I do most of my teaching later in the morning and in the afternoon. I also teach some evenings, so if I get prepared for the day early, most of the rest of the day goes well. I hate when I don’t have time to get ready, and luckily, that happens less and less the longer I work.

But it doesn’t take much to upset a schedule. There could be an accident delaying traffic on the way to work, or there could be extra errands. With recent construction on our roads, I have had some interesting delays. One of the changes was a left turn to go south. The light was adjusted to let the freeway traffic have the right of way most of the time, since that was the only freeway entrance into our fair city. So every morning for a year, almost without fail, I got to wait about a minute and a half at that light waiting to go south.

I reformed my ways and decided to use the time better. Instead of getting impatient and wondering why I had to sit and wait, I decided to use the time to clean the garbage which is always accumulating in my car. Now that the road is finished, I almost miss the chance everyday to clean the car. Going to work a different way has also helped me save a little time now, so I can use those extra minutes to be better prepared for the day.

Sometimes we have to reform our ways because we want to keep living. When the doctor tells me to stop using so much salt, I guess I better listen if I want to stay around. When I’m told to stop eating broccoli and spinach, I guess can I stop that, too. I really do like broccoli and spinach, but I don’t want any more kidney stones. I’ll bet I probably will get another kidney stone, but it won’t be from the oxalates in those vegetables.

Some reform is fun. Deciding to do something new because we want to is a good reward for all the other stuff we may have to do we don’t like. During the last year, I’ve learned some new things about the computer, and about a few computer programs. That’s been fun for me because it isn’t what I do every day. But if you are a computer entry person and have to be on the computer every day, I probably wouldn’t like it. I’ve learned how to do some things I didn’t know I would need to know.

In the past 10 years I’ve learned to blog, podcast, and text. I’ve learned to use a computer in ways I never imagined. I guess it hasn’t hurt me any, but it does make me wonder what kinds of things I’ll have to learn next. I hope it’s easier than texting. I’m still pretty bad at that. Let’s hope it’s not too technical or complicated. I just hope I understand it.


This is another episode of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred”. From the weekly broadcast of “Abundance”. Tune each week from 7 to 8 P.M. Mountain Standard Time (9 to 10 EST) or listen on any web browser at www.k-talk.com.