Growing up I always wanted the crust cut off my peanut butter and honey sandwiches. I mean who liked the crust anyway? The answers varied: it’s the nutritious part or it’ll make you strong. Well kids don’t care about that. The bread was merely a vehicle for the peanut butter and honey (or jelly). Again, emphasis matters. And it’s not effective to emphasize a benefit that the other person doesn’t care about anyway. What’s important is to put in the thought to find out what’s important to the other person and then see if you can emphasize your rationale according to what the other person values.
Manage the ends and the middle will take care of itself. The ends of our day can hold the highest value because they offer the most opportunity to realize the experiences we are seeking to have.
I can either get 25 minutes of work done before breakfast or I can let my son wake up early to go grab a cinnamon roll at the local coffee shop. No brainer. Typically there’s about 1-2 hours on the front and back end of our day that offer opportunities to realize an exponentially better life if we take advantage of them.
I mean, sure you could hammer out one last thing at work during the final 15 minutes… or you could go home 15 minutes early and surprise your family. Really, it’s a matter of leveraging the power of delight. There are certain actions and decisions that will pay off significantly more than others.
If you can take advantage of the margins at the start and end of each day, then the rest of the day will take care of itself. And you shouldn’t mind that because you’ve already decided to start and end with the most important things. It’s ours for the taking… Choose wisely.
