Get Your Cappuccino First
At the end of my lunch hour, I like to enjoy a cappuccino. Until recently, my lunchtime routine was as follows:
Eat lunch.
Walk to the coffee shop.
Order a cappuccino.
Walk back to my office.
Drink the cappuccino and get back to work.
The problem with this sequence is that many other people also like to get coffee after lunch. Frequently, there is a long line of customers and a back-log of drinks to be made. Sometimes I wait 15 minutes or more for my drink, and occasionally, I am late to my one o’clock appointments as a result.
One day, a solution dawned upon me. I revised the order of my routine as follows:
Walk to the coffee shop.
Order a cappuccino.
Eat lunch.
Walk back to my office.
Drink the cappuccino and get back to work.
Both sequences have five events, but ordering the cappuccino first was far more efficient. At the beginning of the lunch hour, the coffee shop is usually empty. My cappuccino is whipped up pronto and I gain an extra 10-15 minutes to spend on more meaningful work.
This week, I invite you to consider:
What is your version of “getting a cappuccino first?” That is, where in your life would a simple reordering of events reduce friction and increase efficiency?
God Bless,
Dan
