On Falling off the Wagon

My "best laid plans" only lasted three days, but I'm getting back on the wagon and will shoot for four or five days this week.

I've been thinking about attending Dr. Ralph Winter's memorial service this coming Sunday. Dr. Winter has had such a tremendous impact on my life it's hard to know how to focus on it.

Some of the things I remember most were the "points of wisdom" he would share, often only one time, but they made an impact because of how apt they were in the context.

One day when we were discussing a new program for funding the USCWM he said, "It's not the organization with the best plans that succeeds, it's the organization that best implements their plans!"

This made a particular impact on me because at that time, the US Center was best known for the multitude of plans that we developed and shared. We were not known for implementing. Yet, Dr. Winter understood the importance of implementation, even though his creative mind was far better at planning than implementing.

I guess the second lesson that I took from that experience was, "It's important to know what's most important, even if you are better at something different."