
Why My Barber Being Closed was a Blessing in Disguise
There’s a barbershop right under my apartment. It’s pretty convenient to call down and head over there. No driving. No looking for parking. walk downstairs. It saves me about 30 minutes or so. The catch is that it’s almost double as expensive as other places. It’s so convenient that I never looked elsewhere. Why would I? The haircut was good enough and it was convenient.
Well, one day I wanted to get a haircut and it was closed. What did I want at that time? Just for my normal haircut place to be open. So I can get the same convenient haircut that I always got.
I reluctantly looked for another haircut place. I was pretty surprised to find one a block away. It was half the price and a much better haircut. Now I always go to this new haircut place and would have never known about it if the first one wasn’t closed.
It made me wonder where else in my life was I willing to take good enough since it was convenient? It’s so easy to go with the flow. Stick to something that works. I did the same with a laptop that was showing signs of aging. Getting a new laptop improved my workflow. But I was stubborn and keeping to my old, slow laptop.
I decided to do an audit of some of my normal activities. Have I looked at this recently? Is there any way I could improve it? Could it be cheaper? Better quality? Or take less time? Do I even need to do it at all?
This last one is the most important. I used to spend an hour or two grocery shopping every week. This was would also lead me to buy a bunch of unhealthy food because I happened to run into it at the grocery store. Instead, I discovered I could order from pretty much anywhere and have it delivered. Get exactly what I need, and not end up buying a bunch of junk food. I was able to save time and money instead of the grocery shopping myself.
When was the last time you took a look at your normal activities? Could you find a cheaper, higher quality, or more efficient alternative?