My wife is a wonderful cook. She is always trying new things and making the old things even better. I love it and I want it to continue. If I had to make all my own meals peanut butter sandwiches would be about it. Recently she made an amazing breakfast, cut up potatoes, onions, peppers, sausage. Sautéed it all perfectly, made a few “nests” and added an egg for each of us that she cooked perfectly sunny-side-up. Being appreciative I like to be helpful by cleaning up. In my capacity as chief bottle washer, I pointed out a few things that caught my attention that she could improve.
“Hey honey, why didn’t you use the non-stick pan I bought you? It would be so much easier to clean than the iron pan.” “Where did you put the Scotch Pads this time? I looked everywhere. If you put them back in the same spot I could find them?” “Honey, you know that expensive German knife is in with the rest of the dishes. It won’t stay sharp that way. Would you please just wipe it off and put it in the block? “Hey did you notice all the food that is stuck around the burners? Don’t worry, I pulled them all out and cleaned them” Well, everything is improved now! Cleaning up after making peanut butter sandwiches is much easier. The point should be pretty obvious, When things are going good, leave it alone! Stop thinking you are being helpful. Marshall Goldsmith lists “Adding too much value” as “The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion” and one of the 20 most egregious everyday annoyances that make your workplace substantially more noxious than it needs to be. A more common term is "Nitpicking". It is defined as “Looking for small or unimportant errors or faults, especially in order to criticize unnecessarily” and it easily demoralizes, destroys and disengages people.
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Ed AlosiThoughtful observer of actions and results in the Retail environment. Archives
February 2022
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