Lessons Learned/Synthesized
The life of an administrator is akin to that of the firefighter. My observations of, and conversations with, my mentor have led me to believe that Murphy's Law will shake up "the best laid plans of mice and men" and you will often times spend your day putting out fires. So often my mentor would have a plan of what he wanted to get accomplished for the day, but there would be many unexpected events arise to prevent those things from being accomplished. However, the unexpected events getting in the way doesn't mean the planned tasks get left behind. My mentor was a great example for me; he lives a life of pro-activity and productivity. I have watched him be successful because of the way he juggles every task so well. Having all of the nagging tasks done early allows you the time to easily react to the fires when they arise. Pro-activity also allows the administrator the time to focus on people; a focus that is necessary to create positive impacting change. Organization and time-management are prerequisites to success,if they are not present, the other things will not happen.