Covey Girl [July 24]

So I thought I’d write about an average day in my life this summer:
The alarm clock goes off at 5:30am and I smile and stretch. “Mmmm, another great day ahead.” I roll off onto my knees and have a meaningful conversation with my Creator. I spend about an hour studying the scriptures (memorizing a verse, reading a page from the Book of Mormon, a chapter from the Old Testament, sometimes a couple of chapters from Revelations for my institute class) and read a chapter from President Monson’s book Be Your Best Self and a chapter of the manual called, Teaching, No Greater Call. I feel nourished.
I look at the clock and realize that I need to get ready for work, so I quickly put myself together and put my things by the front door. Leftovers are in the fridge from the night before, I grab my vitamins, some yogurt and fruit for breakfast and throw it all into my little red Kate bag. Locking the front door as I’m digging for my car keys I juggle everything over to the car and jump in. “Right on time,” I smile to myself. It’s only 6:45 am and I should pull into the FranklinCovey parking lot at 7:00am.
I’m finishing up Rich Dad Poor Dad’s Guide to Investing, soaking up nuggets of truth as I drive to work. All along the way I’m thinking about how I can apply what I’m learning—adding assets to my own personal balance sheet, living well within my means, and finally becoming financially literate.
The car keys get put away as I pull out my FranklinCovey badge—it’s time to start answering emails and making calls. During the day I make three sales, two of them to a three-day certification for the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Military Families—an event for which my client partner’s recently gave me a cold calling list. My pipeline is expanding like crazy; commission is looking good.
At 3:00pm I start wrapping up and get out of my office by 3:15pm. I bid a fond farewell to my thriving office plants and my two co-workers, Blake and Spencer, who are in the office across the hall.
My audio book goes back on as I drive to the gym. After an hour of cardio (roughly 6 miles or a class) and 30 minutes of resistance training I decide it’s time to head home.
It’s nearly 5:30pm—time for a quick shower and some cute clothes. I slip upstairs when I’m all ready to make myself something delicious. All afternoon I’ve been looking forward to making the chicken and nectarine stir-fry that I bought ingredients for yesterday. While I cook I talk to my roommates who come in and out, listening to their recent adventures and sharing a few of my own.
Before I know it, it’s almost 7:00pm and I’ve got to leave for:
Monday: FHE; Tuesday: Institute on the Book of Revelations; Wednesday: our ward softball game; Thursday: running errands (mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, cleaning the car. etc.); Friday: getting together with friends or a date; etc.
I’ll get home at about 9:00pm and put out the sprinkler onto our lush, green lawn. Once I’m back inside, I look over the latest on the training and development world. I check out the T&D blog and several other sites to keep myself up on the field that I want to one day have mastered.
At 10:00pm I get ready for bed, check my email and facebook, and write in my blog. I love recording all the highlights of the day so that I can always remember what I’ve learned and experienced. My life is charmed. At 10:35pm I pray and slip into my bed and fall asleep when my head hits the pillow. There are no boxes unchecked in this Covey girl’s planner; life went exactly as she planned it last Sunday.

Okay, so that is what my day looks like on the pages of my planner…before I live it. Here’s what my day looks like when I’m looking back on it:
I hear an alarm and realize that it’s Becca’s (my roommate) and that it is 6:30am. I must have hit mine and rolled over…again. Probably because I didn’t go to bed until after 12:00am again last night…what was I even doing? Shoot, I only have 15 minutes before I’m supposed to be out the door. I say a quick, “I’m sorry I don’t have more time” prayer but most of it is just rambling. I guess I’ll have to study after work. I try to clear my head as I’m running out the door—and I almost make it out of the bathroom by 6:50am but I need to try to find something to eat for lunch today. After scrounging around for 5 minutes I just grab something to tide me over until I buy an overpriced something at the FranklinCovey cafeteria.
I jump in the car realizing that I have 3 minutes to get to work. I reconcile myself to getting out later today and turn on the audio book to which I’ve been listening. Well, I guess you could say listening. My mind is wondering all over the place and frequently comes back from the far reaches of space trying to figure out what he’s talking about. Is this book over yet? I know that I should listen to parts of it again…but I just don’t want to. Oh, well, I feel like I know the parts that he repeats over and over again.
I get to work and brace myself for the day, praying that it will go fast. I pick off some of the brown leaves off my rather dry office plants. During the day I talk to a lot of nice people…but nothing comes in today. I have to contact one of my client partners 3 times so that I can answer questions regarding this new event that I’m selling. I’m sure she wants to shoot me. Still waiting on funding and approval so I make more and more calls. I try not to watch the clock those last two hours…. Finally it’s 3:20pm. That’s 8 hours…freedom! Until I get a call that keeps for a little longer, now it’s 3:35pm.
I should go to the gym, I need to study, I want to take a nap, but I have to run to the grocery store or (run some other errand). I feel like I’m moving in slow motion. I don’t get back home until 5:00pm. I start talking to roommates and make myself something quick to eat. Before I know it I’m running late to whatever I was supposed to do that night. I run downstairs to freshen up…I look tired…so it takes longer than I thought it would. Now I’m really late, should I even go? Then I finally get myself out the door. I turn on Rascal Flatts’s CD Unstoppable to wake myself up…and then listen to a talk on my ipod, hoping that it will somehow make up for my lack of scripture study that morning.
I end up having fun visiting and being out and about…and all of the sudden it’s 11:00pm or later. I mosey on home and try to put my things away from earlier, talk to roommates about their day, think about doing some crunches….and talk myself out of it, get ready bed, remember to run out into the dark and put the sprinkler in the front yard, longingly look at my computer wishing I had the energy to write on my blog, read a quick chapter in the book of Mormon, and collapse into bed…shoot, I left the sprinkler on the front yard.

So the quest to live up to the Covey Girl within me—the one who has it all together—is an ongoing battle. Maybe the journey between the parallel universes has a charm all its own. They say that the definition of insanity is trying to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. So with that in mind do you think I’ve lost it?