The other day I was driving my car when I approached a red light. As I stopped at the intersection, I noticed that there was a man on the sidewalk who was also wanting to proceed in the same direction as I was going. He did what any normal person would do and he pressed the crosswalk button.
But then he proceeded to press it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. He just increased the amount of times that he was pressing the button. After some time, he started to increase the force and just slamming his hand against the crosswalk button. As I remained seated in my vehicle, I was laughing hysterically.
You see, this individual obviously didn't understand how a crosswalk button works. And it makes no difference whether you press it once or whether you press it 423 times, that crosswalk man, that little flashing signal is not going to come on any sooner for you.
It got me thinking of other areas of our lives where we sometimes waste energy. Where we spend too much energy on a task or too much time on a particular task when we could reserve that for something much more important.
Think about your email, think about how many messages you send in a day. Think about meetings and the number of meetings that you need to attend this week or you think you need to attend this week. Could you send fewer emails? Could you send better, well-crafted emails and therefore not have to send so many follow-up or clarifying messages?
Could you have one or two fewer meetings by making sure that there was an agenda set forward at the beginning and that you made sure that you had an opportunity to hear from everyone in attendance?
I don't want you to be like the man at the crosswalk just repeatedly pushing the button over and over again. I was saddened to see the frustration on his face. But I was also saddened because he didn't realize how much extra and pointless energy he was spending.
So, make use of your energy in the very best ways. Put it and focus it on the most important things in your life and in your work. It's very simple.
