Throw Your Pizza On the Grill!
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - Joe Kiedinger
Habits, personal agreements, and the hamster wheel of “sameness.” Let me explain: during our lives, those who decide to push and persevere learn a few things along the way. We learn what works and we learn what doesn’t work. We sometimes make personal agreements with ourselves like, “That was hard! Now that I’ve figured this out, I’m not going to change in fear of going through that again.”
The hamster wheel of “sameness” works this way. We wake up at about the same time, we eat the same type of things, we arrive at work at the same time. We then eat about the same things for lunch every day, leave in the same car, go to the same house and do our evening routines in pretty much the same way. Our brains love predictability.
Our habitual nature can also be seen in regular company meetings. With the same group of people present in the same room, we tend to select the same chair to sit at around the table. Routine brings us peace.
Now, I’m not saying we don’t need routine. We absolutely do. However, there are times we need to tweak our routine to gain a new perspective.
It’s kind of like pizza. If you’re like me, I always buy the same brand and doctor it up with extra ingredients. I preheat the oven to 425 degrees and it takes about 12-14 minutes to bake. I know how to do it. I know how it will turn out. I know how long it will take and I know what it will taste like.
Now, I could take that same pizza, doctor it up as usual and make one small adjustment. I could do a little research and place it on my grill. Should it be direct or indirect heat? Should it be gas or charcoal? How long will it take? It will lead to a different experience. It may totally flop on the first couple of tries, but once I figure it out it may be the crispiest, most delicious crust I’ve ever eaten!
Life is about making small improvements to things that are already working. I’m a tinkerer. I am motivated to take what’s working and find a way to make it work even better. Can I do it faster? Can the result make a greater impact? Or, in the end, will the change be unproductive? It’s like how we work with customers. If we don’t tinker to determine the best way to do something, we can’t improve.
When a person can take what they’re comfortable with and tweak it slightly, that’s when the big shifts start to happen. It’s not so daunting. It actually can be quite exciting and motivating! So go ahead, put your pizza on the grill and see what happens!
Joe Kiedinger
ACTION PLAN: At work or at home, what have your thought about tweaking, but haven’t taken the next step? Now is the time!