{"id":39,"date":"2013-09-07T06:08:25","date_gmt":"2013-09-07T06:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/page-clan.com\/hectic-dad\/?p=39"},"modified":"2015-06-12T16:21:56","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T21:21:56","slug":"holding-invisible-horses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/holding-invisible-horses\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding Invisible Horses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trying to accomplish more with the finite time and resources that we have available is one point of focus for this blog. Like you, I\u2019m always trying to do more. Every day it\u2019s struggle to get everything done that I want to do, let alone that I should do.<\/p>\n

Every once in awhile, \u00a0I do try to step back and take a look at the resources that we have as a family and try to figure out how to get more accomplished. I\u2019d really like to do this without nagging the kids. I\u2019m not as successful as I\u2019d like to be, but I like to think I\u2019m getting better. With four of the eight kids now moved out of the house it may be that I\u2019m just managing fewer kids, so that\u2019s why I think I\u2019m doing better.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019d get a different answer from them if you asked.<\/p>\n

One thing that I do try to concentrate on every few months are things that we\u2019re doing that don\u2019t have to be done. The idea comes from a story that I\u2019ve heard many times, in several contexts. I would love to cite the source, but I honestly was unable to find one that seemed anywhere close to the original. So, rather than mis-cite consider this a paraphrase of the story:<\/p>\n

Early in World War II, the British military was striving to put more soldiers in the field. The simply needed more soldiers on the front lines. Every part of the military was being scrutinized for places where soldiers were being underutilized. To help, several veterans of earlier wars were brought in to lend their experience at doing more with less.<\/p>\n

During one review of light field artillery, some of the consulting officers noticed that the weapons required a five man crew. Oddly, just prior to discharging the gun, one of the artillerymen would run to the back of the gun, face away from where it was firing, raise both his arms, and stand that way until the gun was fired. Then he would return to his station, helping clean the weapon and prepare it for the next round of firing.<\/p>\n

Baffled, the consulting officers asked the men what they were doing. In all honesty, each replied that this was \u201cstandard procedure\u201d and that they didn\u2019t really know what the purpose was. They just knew that their orders were to stand behind the weapon, facing away from it, until the firing cycle was completed.<\/p>\n

Still perplexed the consulting officers began asking more and more artillerymen. Eventually, a wizened old soldier who had been injured in several previous campaigns produced the answer. He pointed out that the WW II light field artillery was all mechanized. Most field pieces were towed to their stations behind Jeeps or other similar vehicles. In prior wars, this duty was left to horses.<\/p>\n

So, just prior to firing, one of the artillery crewmen was dispatched to hold the horses so they wouldn\u2019t get spooked during the firing of the weapons. Years later this practice had continued, but the artilleryman was holding horses that were no longer there. In short, he was holding invisible horses.<\/div><\/div>\nWith the advent of this new school year, I\u2019ve been looking for invisible horses in our household routines. I\u2019ve gotten the kids somewhat engaged. Our oldest daughter started preschool in 1993, so we\u2019ve been doing the school-thing for a long, long time. We\u2019ve built up all sorts of routines, and some of them are really, really outmoded.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve taken stock of what we\u2019re doing and we\u2019re trying to eliminate some of the dumb stuff we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re doing our best to let go of the invisible horses and put in place new routines that fit better with today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

What invisible horses are you holding that need to be set free?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trying to accomplish more with the finite time and resources that we have available is one point of focus for this blog. Like you, I\u2019m always trying to do more. Every day it\u2019s struggle to get everything done that I want to do, let alone that I should do. Every once in awhile, \u00a0I do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[31,58,129],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting","category-productivity","tag-father","tag-motivational","tag-perfectionist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nHolding Invisible Horses -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/holding-invisible-horses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holding Invisible Horses -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trying to accomplish more with the finite time and resources that we have available is one point of focus for this blog. 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