Optimize Your Life!: Interactive Worksheets Edition

I was born and raised in northern New Jersey, the son of Norwegian immigrants. Since my father was self-employed in manufacturing and real estate, I enjoyed a good, albeit hectic, life. I was a hyperkinetic kid and a good student with too many interests and projects.In my efforts to gain some control and focus over these many projects, I discovered the power of color-coded file folders. I graduated to three ring notebooks. For me, life had followed an orderly and efficient series of phases. I was raised in a conservative, fundamentalist Baptist church, and then went on to Wheaton College in Illinois (Reverend Billy Graham's alma mater) where I earned degrees in Chemistry and Bible. Next I went to Cornell University Medical College for my M.D. and completed my internship and Pathology residency at the University of Vermont. In 1971, after two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, I was named the Chief of Pathology at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.As a result of my early life and religious upbringing, as well as my formal education as a chemist, an epidemiologist, and a physician/pathologist, my world view was as wide as possible. My interests and knowledge ranged from chemical elements and tissue cells to celestial beings (aka God), from disease processes in individuals to health concerns of large populations.However, since my four years at Cornell included a great deal of training in psychiatry, my religious concepts were tested and molded. I was comfortable in the world of the abstract, unseen, untested, and unproven.In Maine, I co-founded Dahl-Chase Pathology Associates which served eighteen hospitals and three reference labs in the state. During the next twenty-five years of "in the trenches" medical group practice, I learned a great deal. I was forced to ad- dress the complex nature of people, especially myself, as we struggled to succeed.These experiences led me to the study, understanding, and application of the benefits of the dynamic management tool, strategic planning. I have applied strategic planning to countless management venues, both inside and outside the practice of medicine, as an owner, co-owner, and consultant.In 1995, I retired from the full-time practice of pathology and founded PathQuest, Inc., a management consultancy. I have offered lectures, seminars, and consultation services on leadership issues and skills with a focus on strategic planning.