A little while back, a dinner I made was a bust.
It was a steak taco that required marinating meat for “2 to 24 hours.” With only 2 hours of marinating, the meat barely had any flavor.
Fortunately, I learned my lesson, and marinated overnight the next time around.
You can see the punchline easily enough.
The harder question is: what parts of our work (and home) life are like marinating?
Where will doing the same activity sooner create 10 times the yield?
Things like:
- First drafts
- A half hour with a pen and a blank piece of paper jotting down first thoughts about a thorny problem
- Reading together at bedtime
- Feedback given right after something happened
- Coaching
- Problem-defining (versus problem-solving)
Often, we find ourselves stuck in a vain search for more time, when we don’t need more time at all.
We need time well spent, invested early, so that the seeds we plant have time to grow.
