cc: file, Mom, Sara and Des, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Charles and Diane Cluff, Tony Hafen, Claude and Katherine Warner, Forest and Amy Warner, Ivan and Chell Warner, and Eric and Renee Miner
"Ever wondered why some folks have a master plan for their lives, some plan their week in great detail, and others do not really plan out the day? I am sure there are a lot of different reasons for each individal's different planning horizon. There is a book I thoroughly enjoy called `Human Capability' (Jaques & Cason, ISBN 0-9621070-7-7), which claims our planning horizon is an innate part of our genetic make-up, sort of like hair color and the over-rated `IQ' measurement.
Roice and I went to a Harlem Globetrotter's show Thursday evening (some might call it a game, but it is family entertainment meant to get us laughing). When I was in High School I went to a Harlem Globetrotter's game with my Dad, and remembered laughing myself sick at the antics of `Meadow-Lark Lemmon.' I am not proud to say, other than on our annual family vacation, I have not taken the time to participate in this kind of enjoyment with you kids. Specifically, until Thursday I had never taken any of you to a Harlem Globetrotter's game. When you kids decide to marry and have kids of your own don't make this same mistake.
As we left the game my mind wandered to a verse in a song, 'A Lullabye,'
I wrote it for Roice on the 14th of July 1973, a little less than two
months before your mom and I got married and 18 1/2 months before Roice
was born. The verse says:
I expect these words seem irrelevant to several of you. Teenagers and young adults are not known for long-term thinking. The letters from Paul show how he is focused on whether he gets as many packages of love as other missionaries in the MTC. He did send us a tape that was really funny. I plan to bring it to Austin this week and leave it for Roice to listen to and then to forward it to Ben who will get it back to the house so Paul can have it when he returns. Chris Schmidt and I were listening to it today as we went to teach a new member discussion to Edy Smith (Yes Paul, Mike Smith's wife with the malignant brain tumor and former alcoholic was baptized on Wednesday) when we got to the story about the rabbit that was hit a car. For those who will not hear the tape, the lady got out of her car really upset, and this man stopped and said 'Here just pour some of this on him and he will be fine.' She did and nothing happened, so she poured the whole bottle on the rabbit. He jumped up, ran a little ways, turned and waved, ran a little further, turned and waved, and as this continued the lady looked at the bottle to see what this caused this miracle: `hair conditioner with a permanent wave.' Short term thinking but it really did get us laughing. Hopefully someday you will look back at this effort of creating Thoughtlets and find some useful things for you. Even if all of you don't, I have already had enough feedback from some of you kids to know that the effort is appreciated in some quarters.
Jaques and Cason define Current Potential Capacity as the maximum level of work a person can carry out at any point in time, given they have the necessary experience and knowledge. In the book they define Current Applied Capability as the level of work a person is actually applying at a given moment in some specific work. Finally they define Future Potential Capability as the predicted level of potential capability a person will possess at some specific time in the future. The authors have empirically defined seven bands of the planning time horizon, which we all fall into, and have shown how Future Potential Capability matures over time, and is a direct function of our individual planning time horizon at various ages. Ben probably has the longest planning horizon of any of you kids, and it is amazing to me to think about your individual and collective Future Potential Capability. As I get older, and hopefully wiser, I believe our planning horizons will come more into sync, and I want each of you to know I will be here to help and support you in any way I can which allows each of you to retain your independence."