This Is What "Better" Costs

Today’s post is special group post.  It’s from me (Longan) and Jason and Carrie and Steve because we all happen to be in the same building at the same time working together.  Now, to some of you, it might seem a little silly that this is remarkable at all (“So you’re in the same building together….whoop-dee-doo…”).  But, because Rewire is spread out between Portland and Minneapolis and Baltimore, it’s actually a special thing to get all of us together.

We’re out here to do three days of training together targeted at developing our individual and collective use of emotional intelligence assessments with individual and corporate clients.  We’re all really excited to grow together and sharpen our programs and skills.  We’re getting better as individual consultants, and we’re getting better as a team.

But that’s not what this post is about.  This post is about what it takes to get better: that it “costs” to get better.    

Take this training that we’re doing right now:

• There’s a cost to Rewire per person to do this training.
• It costs us time we could be spending with current clients.
• It costs us time we could be spending with potential clients.
• It costs us plane tickets and hotel rooms and all the other stuff that comes with travel.
• It costs each of us time away from our families.

But this is what better costs.  And this is true in so many parts of life. A college education will cost four years of your life.  It’s two years (or longer) in many skilled trade apprenticeship programs.  If you want to have a kid, it’ll cost you sleep and stress and (A LOT of) money.

So, before we head off for more training, we want to offer you one important tip and one important question that we think will help you as you think about the “better” that you need in your work and world.

Tip: Don’t think solely about what “better” is going to cost you.  That will just distract you from actually getting better.  Focus on the work. Focus on the experience.  Focus on what will come out of your process. Doing this will make the costs easier to bear and help you actually get the return on your investment faster.

Question: What are you putting off right now that you know would make you better?  Or take your team: is there something that you are putting off collectively because you don’t have enough time, or bandwidth, or….?  By all means, figure out how to navigate those costs.  But, then engage with an action to get better.  Because, unless we’re willing as individuals and teams to pay those costs, “better” is going to stay just out of reach.