Ways to distinguish yourself - #58 Understand the law of the bucket and the glass
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Okay - there is no
such law. I made this up based on an advice by one of my mentors.
Imagine an empty glass where you can pour water or any liquid. It’s
ready and willing to get filled.
Imagine a bucket filled with water. Now, start pouring the water from the
bucket into the glass. After a while the
glass will be full. You can
continue to pour more water but unfortunately the glass can only hold a
limited amount of water (way less than what a bucket can hold)
You can devise a strategy to pour water slowly or you can employ
“positive thinking” and be optimistic about the possibility of putting
in more water. Won’t work. Sorry!
Summary: Next time, when you are talking to someone, please see whether the
other person has a glass or a bucket and then pour your information
appropriately. It will save both of you a lot of time and energy!
The other person may not even have a glass (or cup), not even worth wasting your time - I realized this the hard way. Thanks for your excellent illustration.
Excellent illustration and a good reminder to all of us. I would also think about the person who has the shot glass (super short attention span) and the person with the hole in the bottom of their bucket (who could suck out all of your time and energy, and you’d never know it), and plan your conversation accordingly.
Thanks Ravi and Phil for the additions. Made me smile
Cheers,
Raj