At one point or another, you may have found yourself sitting with a group of friends at the end of lunch trying to figure how to split the check. Or perhaps you’ve been in line behind the person trying to decide whether to spend that additional dollar on extra sandwich meat. While it’s wise to be thrifty, where is the balance between thrifty and savvy?
The same thing is true for time. My colleague, Alan Weiss, is fond of saying, “You can make more money, but you can’t make more time.” The older I get, the more I see the wisdom in this observation.
Like you, there are times when I catch myself stewing over a decision that is not worth the effort. When that happens, my mantra has become, “Life’s Too Short.” While I try to be thrifty, spending my energy deciding on extra sandwich meat is just not worth the effort. I’ve watched committees debate for 30 minutes on whether they should provide Caesar or garden salads at the luncheon. I’ve seen couples spend 20 minutes struggling over which shade of baby blue to paint the nursery.
Part of this is a human desire for control. That’s why paint manufacturers offer 87 shades of every primary color. But that twenty-minute discussion will drain energy you could use on something more productive.
It’s also why you feel fatigue after sitting through endless meetings over seemingly inconsequential issues. If everyone else wants to battle over the minutiae, I am happy to let them. Life’s too short. If it really gets to be a nuisance, I excuse myself by saying, “I’m sorry, I have another commitment.” Nobody misses my input because they’re so invested in contributing their own.
Whether it’s money or time, develop a mental threshold about when life becomes too short and enjoy the extra time and energy you save by making a quick decision and moving on.