January 20, 2013 Email:

Friends,

Remember Tom Peters' quote from the final appendix of A Thomas Jefferson Education? "Ready, fire, aim." Or as Alex put it yesterday when he looked at my growing pile of returns, repairs, shopping lists, and errands to be run on the kitchen counter, "Execute, Jenny. Execute."

Finding truth is difficult. Living it when we have found it is where it gets really, monumentally hard. Alex made his comment in reference to my new year's resolution to follow through more effectively. I love to learn, to make plans, to study things out, to "aim". I also know how to "fire", and have been known, on occasion, to pull off some tremendous event, effort, or coup. (Like bearing four children!) The problem is that my planning-to-execution ratio is somewhere around five million-to-one. I do a whole lot of aiming and not enough firing. I know this may resonate with some of you. I also know there may be others of you who will be thinking something like, "Are you kidding?!? If I squeeze off another shot without first making a plan I may well turn "friendly fire" into my epithet!" Either way, your participation in this study group is evidence that you care about paying the price to find truth and implement it.

Which brings me to the point of this missive. One possible prompt for your written refelections might be: "What steps do I need to follow this year to implement a world-class education for my family?" OR "What steps do I need to follow this year to earn a world-class education for myself?"

Another way to think/write this through is to name your children (or others you mentor), one by one, and, in writing, list everything you know about them. Then stop, ponder, pray, and add more to the list. Follow that with a list of things you want for them, or feel they need, or visions/dreams you have for their futures. This will give you a blueprint for creating the custom-made systems to meet those needs, provide those wants, and make those dreams a reality.

Monumentally hard. Absolutely necessary. Completely worth it.

By the way, after all this time, and on my third reading of the book, I have yet to do this for myself and my children.

Execute, Jenny. Execute.

See you Tuesday!

Jenny