Convenience spoiled my food

Buying groceries online has optimised our family's waking hours. It has help us focus on our projects and get more time for exercise. It has made our life easier, except for a key part.

Enter the slowly decaying produce box. 

Brimmed with local colorful products, this fresh box arrived every time at the wrong time.

We tried different days, time-slots, and frequencies. Yet, the result was always the same: we're dealing with something else when it arrived.

To process the groceries—from the box to the fridge—felt both daunting and nagging. It disrupted our attention. We had to drag our heels to do it.

One day we took a different approach. We cancelled the next order and went to get our groceries instead. The result fascinated us.

Yes, we've interrupted our "pristine" workflow. But since then, we were able to select, buy, wash, and storage our food in a seamless way. The best part? We are enjoying this way more.

In the end, it wasn't a timing problem, it was an attuning problem. 

When you are in the market—cherry picking tomatoes, getting extra cookies just because, or grabbing the very last bottle of your favorite beverage—you set your mind for what's to come. It's inevitable.

When you return home, you're prepared, even to cook.

That's the magic of giving yourself enough time to be present at the activity at hand. 

When you opt for convenience, you risk being absent from the experience, you risk numbing the point of being alive. So, be careful trying to optimise your waking hours too much.

Here's a last thought of how can we bring this lesson into our leadership practice.

Avoid saying "my door is always open." Book regular 1:1 sessions instead. 

The former is the convenient answer. It will let yourself think you're being a good leader just because people can test their luck in finding an open spot in your already overcommited calendar. Lest they find a moment, you'll feel the urge to reschedule because you're not mentally there—similar to what happened to me when I received that closed-cardboard box every time I was dealing with something else.

So, yes, go on. Make your productivity system more INCONVENIENT. Make it so today. Make time for those around you. Carve space for boring things that matter. Emails can wait. AI summaries, too.

Have you ever spot a situation where convenience has been making things harder for you? What would you do to revert the situation? Hit reply or drop a comment to share your wisdom with fellow readers like you.

Thanks for being an awesome leader. We need people like you!

Alberto

P.S. Are you in The Fediverse too? Add me via @leadsticks@leadsticks.com