Toothpaste

[Anil Gupta]

My wife would get very upset with me, she would always ask me to put the lid back on the toothpaste tube. And I never bothered. I didn’t think it was important. And I thought to myself, what’s the point of putting the lid back on when I’m going to have to come back and take the lid off at the end of the day? To me it was logical and I couldn’t understand. That’s the way I used to run my life. And it stemmed from college days. Those days were crazy. But one day she said to me this, and this really got me, “honey every time you leave the lid off I lose some of my love for you”. BOOM , can you imagine how I felt? From then onwards I always, always, put the lid back on the toothpaste tube. Not only just the toothpaste tubes but to other parts of my life just by having that communication having that special one to one . “Honey this is what it means to me “was very powerful and remember we are meaning making machines. “When you do this - I make it mean this”.BOOM. So I could ask her to change the meaning she puts behind it or I could change my behavior. What do you thinks more powerful and productivve? Yes, changing my behavior. Imagine how she felt. All it took was 30 seconds, less than that. Imagine that you could do that, somewhere in your life, with someone that you love. Its simple but it takes courage to say it, takes courage to do it. All this is very simple but it needs action. You need to take action. And sometimes you need a coach. Sometimes you need a mentor. Simple techniques that will change the quality and quantity of your life.