There are 162 games in a season for a Major League Baseball team and the perception of that number can tell you a lot about workplace productivity.
At the beginning of the season, a team badly loses a game. The manager will try to reassure his team that they’re not incompetent by calmly saying something like, “It’s a long season and it’s only one game.” He repeats this phrase several times in the months of April and May.
It’s also not unusual for him to rest his starting pitchers during the season, believing that a loss is worthwhile if it results in his best players feeling rested.
A few months later, that same manager will see his team miss the playoffs by three games. During the final weeks of the season, he has his best pitchers throw so much that their arms go dead.
“If only we had won a few more games,” the manager scowls as he storms out of a press conference.
The manager was correct in thinking that a 162 game season is a long one. But did he assign more value to late games than early ones?
It’s the same mistake a college student can make when not realizing that the ten percent that makes up pop quizzes could lower his grade by a whole letter if he performs poorly.
Or it’s the employee who takes a daily 2 hour lunch and then complains to his boss when he can’t meet his goals because he doesn’t have enough time.
To Clear the Path of this time distortion, consider these tips:
- When you start slow, you don’t finish fast. You finish hectic as you struggle to get everything done.
- Mistakes and problems multiply when you rush to finish something.
- We often fear getting started more than we fear finishing poorly.
- Time rewards those who respect it.
