A rocky start

I like to get up early on work days and begin my routine. I was sick for a week and recovering last week so I was unable to do this morning routine. This morning I had every intention of waking up at my normal hour and engaging in my routine, alas this was not to be. I woke up late, had trouble finding my keys and cell phone. Arrived at work without my office keys and felt as though the whole day was shot.

In negotiating people who set the anchor almost always get more of what they want than those who react to the anchor being set. Setting the anchor is a term used for laying out negotiation terms first. In baseball swinging on the first pitch results in hits 40 % of the time all other count swings are 38 % except for a count with two strikes then it is 35 %. In Horse racing the fifth position results in the most wins for the Kentucky derby.

In sports and life it is good to start at the top or in a good position, however what matters the most is how we perform in sports and in life at every moment. The Kentucky Derby was won this weekend by a horse that was in the 20th position to start the race.

It helps to start from a good position or a great morning however, you can still have an amazing day or life when you have started poorly. Life and work is what Simon Sinek calls “an infinite Game“. In his book titled The Infinite Game, Simon details how life and business is perpetual and their is not a time clock or clear beginning or end like there are with sports and games. We never stop working even when we retire, we hopefully never stop being married and we never stop being a parent or a child or a care giver. Because life is an infinite game we should approach it a little different.

When we have a bad start in a race or a chess match we usually scratch that one off as loss and move on. When we start out a work day poorly we cannot do that. People need you to come in and do your job. We must have a short memory when it comes to poor performance. We learn from the loss and move on to make that day and moment great.

We can do this because we have to. Life and work are gonna stink and then it will get better how long it stinks is kind of up to you and how you let it affect you and others.