You can't get A's in everything

Today at lunch, I attended a very interesting career development presentation with one of our executives and he gave a piece of advice that really hit home for me.

He was telling a story about how when he was in college he did just what he had to do to get by in his classes because there were other activities that were more important to him. For example he coached high school football and baseball and was also a hockey referee and an umpire. In the end, he ended up getting a great job not because he got good grades but because of his extra-curricular activities.

Now I have to be honest, my first reaction when he said that he didn’t get straight A’s in school, or even B’s was one of shock. He’s a very successful businessman who I greatly admire and you’re telling me he got C’s?!?!

For those of you who knew me during elementary school, high school and college you will know that grades meant everything to me. I cried when I got a B+ on anything and thought my life was over when I got a B in high school band. Straight A’s was perfection and I put forth a lot of time and energy to achieve that perfection.

Now the point of his story wasn’t that grades weren’t important, because they are. The point of his story was that you need to evaluate your life and identify which areas you want to get “straight A’s in” and which ones you don’t. He cited a survey from Wharton business school that discusses the paradox of female happiness. Basically it says that although the lives of women have improved objectively in the past 35 years, subjectively women’s well-being and happiness have fallen considerably. And one might ask why is this the case? Well, looking around at all of the busy, talented, hard-working, be-everything-to-everyone ladies in my life I think I know the answer. Girls, we are trying too hard to get “A’s in everything” and that’s just not possible.

Whether it’s family, church, work, friendships, volunteer activities, housework, etc. we have to determine what’s important to us, what we want to get “A’s” at and what’s okay to be less than perfect.
In my own life I’ve realized that my relationship with God, my husband and my family are top priorities. I can’t afford to let any of that slide. Then second would be my career. At the point that I’m at now in my life getting “A’s” in that will help put me and my future family in a better position. And hopefully help us financially prepare for a time in life when I might be able to devote all of my time to being home with them.

So I pose this question to all of you? What do you want to get “A’s” in and what can you afford to just be okay at. It is afterall, okay. : )