A talk with my neighbor made me rethink why I even do this job

I was complaining to my neighbor Dave last Friday about my current project at work. He sells insurance so I figured he wouldn't get it. But he asked me a simple question: "Are you trying to be the best or just trying to finish?" It hit me hard because I realized I spend most days rushing through tasks just to clear my inbox. I told him I wanted to be good at what I do but the deadlines don't help. He said those deadlines are set by people who don't know your craft. Since then I've been taking an extra 15 minutes each morning to plan my day instead of jumping straight into emails. Has anyone else had a random outside perspective totally shift how you approach your daily grind?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jason15d ago

Wait, is your neighbor some kind of secret life coach or something? That's honestly the kind of simple question that can really mess with your head in a good way. I had a similar thing happen with my mechanic of all people, he just said something like "you spend more time putting out fires than preventing them" and it wrecked me for weeks because he was totally right. The thing you said about deadlines being set by people who don't know your craft really stuck with me too, because that's exactly how it feels when you're just trying to survive the workday. Taking those extra 15 minutes every morning sounds like such a small change but I bet it adds up huge over time. I'm definitely gonna try that myself starting tomorrow.

the_kai15d ago

Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't read too deep into a five minute chat with a neighbor about deadlines. Taking fifteen extra minutes to plan your morning is fine but it's not exactly a career epiphany. Kind of feels like you're giving an insurance salesman a little too much credit for a basic observation.