Then I went to “Boston” and hung around with my fraternity brothers of all ages, engaged in some work for the Foundation, and had a few beers each night and wouldn’t you know that my headaches went away? Of course with the convention over I went back to work yesterday and all of a sudden guess what returned? That’s right – the tension headache came back and it was worse than before. So after driving home last night with my head pounding, I told myself that I was not dealing with anyone’s crap today and that I was going to deliberately slow down the pace of the work in my office so that we all weren’t running around like crazy people.

And do you know what happened today? No headache!

The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation

As for my trip to “Boston,” I put that word in parenthesis because we really didn’t stay in Boston or even outside of Boston. We were some 30 – 40 minutes away from Boston in a place called Danvers, Massachusetts. It was a little bizarre because the hotel bar stopped serving drinks at 12:15am and there was absolutely nothing within walking distance. Certainly a very odd place to hold a fraternity convention…

At the convention itself, I was elected to be the Treasurer of our fraternity’s Foundation as well as the Chairman of the Strategic Plan Study Group that will ultimately create a new strategic plan for the Foundation. I’m excited about both positions. Also, one of my fellow fraternity brothers from New Jersey was elected to be the National President of the Fraternity. For the first time in a long time there is a feeling of excitement and that “can do” attitude running throughout the undergraduate chapters, alumni clubs, and members of the Foundation Board of Trustees. I’m looking forward to helping the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation move forward by serving as its Treasurer – it’s going to be a fun two years!

Once you graduate from being regular fraternity guy to someone who volunteers and actively donates his time and money to the fraternity, these conventions become quite the event. You get to see guys that you haven’t caught up with in a while and, depending upon how/if you volunteer for the organization, people are always trying to drag you down into petty politics. The way I see it, I don’t have the time or additional space in my short-term memory to be concerned about fraternity politics so I try my damnedest to stay out of that bullshit.

But like I said – this is my first time to the Danvers-Boston area and I’m looking forward to seeing the sites. Also, the hotel has a pool so I’m looking forward to going for a few dips before the activity starts each day. Hey, I won’t have my Wii Fit Plus available to help get me moving, but I’m going to attempt to keep the momentum going anyway!

I’ve arranged for a few entries to automatically upload to the site while I’m gone, so have no fear about this place being a dead zone for a few days.

Sometimes we can get distracted from the important goals that we are each trying to reach in life. For some folks, those goals are big, grandiose accomplishments like climbing Mount Everest, losing 100 pounds, flying an airplane, etc. For others, those important goals are as seemingly simple as purchasing a new telephone, being sure to attend Church on a weekly basis, showing up to work on time, or even having a job to go to show up to in the morning. The point is that each person has their own objectives that they’re trying to reach.

Recently, I realized that I was becoming more and more distracted by insignificant people, places, and things. These insignificant distractions – on there own – are nothing out of the ordinary. However, combined they put a person in a bad spot where they can’t move forward. Here are some examples of what was distracting me:

• Clients that don’t get it. I’ve mentioned this annoyance before on this blog, but some of my website clients don’t understand what my small business’ role is in their overall internet presence. For example, some of my clients think that it’s perfectly acceptable for me to create a website for them and then – two months later – completely redesign their website because their tastes have changed. These types of clients are clueless and abusive and I’m shedding them from my portfolio. In the grand scheme of things, their inability to make a decision should be – and now, in many cases, is – insignificant in my world.
• Dumb cell phone games. My current and former roommate can tell you that I was nearly addicted to playing BrickBreaker a few months ago. I mean it was crazy! I’d play that stupid game on my cell phone while I was at work, waiting in traffic, sitting trying to watch television, at the restaurant, you name it! I was consumed with scoring 1,000,000+ points (which I did) that I wasted a bunch of time in the process! Talk about something insignificant getting in the way of getting work done!
• Stupid television. This is interesting because I don’t really watch much television other than a few shows that I DVR. Sometimes, I put the television in my bedroom on as background noise while I work on my laptop, but I don’t “watch” whatever is on the screen (typically a news channel like FOX News). In the last week I’ve kept the cable box off more and missing whatever dumb talking heads are on the television certainly could be the very definition of insignificant.

The reason that I emphasized the words cable box in the last point is because I’ve been keeping the television on so I can do some more working out on my Wii Fit. In fact, removing each of the insignificant activities listed above has allowed me to do something else that is more important. Less talking heads = more time working out. Less BrickBreaker = completing more tasks at the office and advancing my work overall. Less whacked out clients = more time to spend on teaching an online course.

Sure, there are a lot of other things that I’ve cut out of my daily routine and by doing so I’ve created more time to focus on the things that matter. However, I’m not going to list them all here because then I might be wasting your time!

What I found to be most intriguing about the book was the way it used real accounts to describe both Washington’s army and the British army. Also, the sheer size and skill of the British army (plus their ability to hire Hessian soldiers to do their dirty work) should have made them the winners of this “war” by a long shot. Yet, the Continental Army – in the face of poor supplies, captured heroes, and hundreds of deserters – managed to win the war.

The book doesn’t go into how we won the war, since it continued on for a few years, but the tactic (if you can call it that) of running away is heavily covered. Also, I was glad to see that a true representation of George Washington was included. For those of you that don’t know, this guy was about as pompous and arrogant as they come (one of the reasons why I’m a fan).

I suggest this book for any history buff or anyone who wants a real account of the not-so-glamorous Revolutionary War. Also, if you’re interested in the military and its interaction with the federal government, one could successfully argue that this book chronicles the very beginning of that relationship as Washington was in constant contact with the Second Continental Congress. You may also enjoy reading how Washington pretty much self-regulated his actions (and the actions of his officers) and how he thought it of utmost importance to be sure that the Congress gave their approval to his actions.

Since the summer is upon us, this might be a good beach or backyard read. Feel free to leave comments if you decide to read the book!