In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey talks about the P (Production) / PC (Production Capability) balance. This basically means that you've got to find a balance between nurturing the source that feeds your life, and enjoying the fruits of the source. If you don't take very good care of your goose, it won't live long enough to give you many golden eggs.

Getting Lazy

I started thinking about my PaperMoon goose. The studio has survived for over 19 years, through some robust times, and some lean times. It's only recently that I realized I've been enjoying my golden egg but getting a bit lazy about taking care of my goose. Last week a student brought in some framed photos for us to hang on the wall. I felt embarrassed because I used to be pretty good about adding new photos of students to it regularly, but it's been a long time since I've done that. Then last Saturday, 14 of us had a wonderful day hiking at the Lost River and Boulder Caves, and then enjoying a terrific dinner at a restaurant together. It was so much fun, and I realized it had been way too long since I'd scheduled anything like that!

Early Nurturing

It's also been too long since I've done a lot of things I used to do for PaperMoon. I used to frame photos and give them as gifts to folks who danced in our showcases. We used to host huge pot-luck dinners at our home every few months. I used to reach out to folks we hadn't seen in awhile, tell them we missed them, and then suggest how easy it would be for them to jump back in, and give them specific suggestions for classes/activities that would ease their transition back.

Hope for the Future

I'm glad that I've got a cool new gift for the birthdays this year, which should help our Moonie Family members really understand how much they mean to us and that they're really a special part of who we are. I'm glad we have some fun outings scheduled for the next couple of months. Now I'm off to order some new photos, schedule our next dinner, and start thinking about the next Formation!