Being left alone to my own devices proved to be a less than worthy approach last week. I have four children; one daughter is now married while another recently moved back home due to her own economic crisis. My third daughter is the safety queen at our house. She is constantly locking doors and windows behind everyone; which usually means the rest of us do a lot of knocking. My 12-year old son is great at diffusing almost any situation by just walking away when the girls or I get too passionate. He is very good at putting us in our place by simply shaking his head at stupid girl stuff.

My children spent a few days with their grandmother last week. When I arrived home from a late-night meeting, the house was atypically quiet when I remembered that I was alone. The next morning, I went into the garage to get dog food and was promptly locked out of the house. Daughter number three had locked the door prior to their exodus. I stood there thinking for a minute; my first thought was, "Thank goodness I'm dressed." I checked the two other doors, hoping but to no avail. I next attempted a break-in through the doggie door. Not trying to crawl through but hoping I might be able to jimmy the door in some way. No luck.

By now, my dogs were frantic in the house as they sensed something was wrong. I could hear the water still running in the kitchen; I had been filing their water bowl when I failed to check the lock before letting the door close behind me. Fortunately, the neighbor girl hadn't left for school yet and I begged her to come and help. I was very happy to see she was small enough to fit through the doggie door and rescue me. I was now a half hour delayed getting away for work, which in Southern California can be critical due to increased traffic at specific times of day. I ended up being an hour and ten minutes late for work. And completely frazzled.

Not checking the door had cost me. Not too much, mind you, but it did set me back a bit and I definitely had to re-group. Where had I failed? A number of places. I jumped ahead of myself by not completing one project (filling the water bowl), before starting another. I didn't check my surroundings to see if others had already completed tasks. I wasn't prepared; how many times had I thought about hiding a key somewhere in the garage? And I was trying to rush through a job because my time was already getting away from me. And because I had failed those areas, I then had to rely on someone else to bail me out.

Don't be in such a hurry to complete any given task that you miss key information that will make a huge difference in the outcome. Quick is not the same as right. You can prepare for set-backs or minor issues. Multi-tasking isn't always the best way; focus serves you better. And don't be too proud to ask for help when need be; I got by with a little help from a friend. Pride cometh before the fall and it never solves problems, only creates more.

Trust me when I say, I was really glad when my children returned home...