OM_SANTHI_OM
Lakshmi Prasanna
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Health & Lifestyle
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Week 4 of 4
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My Commitment Journal
 prasannaMK
February 13, 2009, 11:13 AM
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Lesson 4: Organize distractions right out of your life Clearly, Obama knows how to manage groups. By the time your outfit has its own plane, it had better have a solid pilot. "I'm part of an organization," he said, speaking of his campaign team, "and one of the things I really try to push is to make sure that everybody is focused on the two or three things that are really going to make a difference. I ask them to design my schedule in a way that focuses on being active instead of reactive. "The most difficult thing is to carve out time to think, which is probably the most important time for somebody who's trying to shift an organization, or in this case, the country, as opposed to doing the same things that have been done before. And I find that that time slips away." His solution: delegate. "I don't spend a lot of time returning calls or e-mails. If somebody needs something, usually somebody else can handle it. Eliminating TV has been helpful." But, he confesses, "I'm still a sucker for SportsCenter." |
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 prasanna
February 13, 2009, 11:13 AM
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Lesson 3: Learn from your father, even if he wasn't a good one Citing the complex relationship between Bush I and Bush II, I asked the then-senator if his absent father would have an impact on an Obama presidency. "I would like to think that most of the issues related to my father have been resolved," he replied. "That's part of what writing Dreams from My Father was about: understanding him, his own personal tragedy. He wasn't a presence in my life; he was an idea that I had to wrestle with for a long time. "Somebody once said that every man is either trying to live up to his dad's expectations or make up for his dad's mistakes. And I'm sure I was doing a little bit of both. But somewhere in my late twenties or early thirties, I sort of figured out what his absence had meant. It's part of what I think has made me a pretty good dad. There's no doubt that it has contributed to my drive. I might not be here had it not been for that absent father prodding me early in life." |
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 OM_SANTHI_OM
February 13, 2009, 11:12 AM
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esson 2: Make the future your focus An unavoidable sacrifice: the way a child's life changes under the glare of campaign lights. Obama noted that his daughters were young--5 and 8--when he had to explain the upheaval that was about to shake their family. The girls' first order of business: their now-famous request for a First Dog. "They did also ask about what they called 'secret people,' which were the Secret Service folks: 'Are we going to have to have those people with sunglasses and earpieces following us around all the time?' And I told them, well, not right away. They've adjusted wonderfully." |
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OM_SANTHI_OM
February 13, 2009, 11:12 AM
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Lesson 1: Be there for your family, even if you're not around I joined the campaign on August 4, which also happened to be Obama's birthday. But Michelle and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, were nowhere to be seen. "The birthday celebration was yesterday," he said. "We get everything in, just not always on schedule. I sat on a lounge chair in a friend's backyard, watching my girls and Michelle dance. It was as nice a moment as I've had in a long time. I don't miss the important things. I haven't missed a dance recital. I haven't missed a parent-teacher conference. But there are some things I do miss. Those are trade-offs you make. "I'd like to say that quality time replaces quantity, but sometimes it doesn't. A lot of the best moments of family life happen spontaneously. If you have less time to devote to them, there are fewer of those. What I've been able to do is create a zone of normalcy for my kids. Michelle's been wonderful about that. I have been able to transmit to them my absolute interest in them and my absolute love for them." |
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