Never did I dream that a high school speech about peeling an orange, as presented by a fellow student would make a difference. I went on to marry the daughter of a citrus farmer less than 2 years later and started in construction, where my learned practice of peeling benefited me in many ways.
How, you ask? It has to do with time management and quality results!
So often when we hurry about in this ever increasingly busy society, we often forget that there are better ways of doing things. We may think that assessing the situation will slow us down, so we grab the matter at hand and dive right into it. But, evaluating the process and developing a plan actually ends up providing results.
I learned some hard lessons early in my construction career. One day I worked especially hard thinking I would get some praise from Turk. Instead, I was told I could do it faster and better. I said “No way!” His response was “Steve, you need to work smarter, not harder!” I did not understand then, but a few months went by and I started seeing how working smarter was paying off, and my production grew tremendously!
Most people take an orange and go right to peeling off the orange skin. This usually creates a lot of juice on your hands, peelings under your finger nails, rind left on the orange and lots of small peelings.
Try this instead…work the orange. Take the orange in your hands and squeeze it. As you do, rotate your orange for a minute or two. If done properly, you can actually take the entire peel off in one piece, and in less time than the old way.
So the next big task you take on, think outside the box. Maybe there’s a smarter way of doing it.
