Image credit: AndyCandy
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Not too long ago I parked my car on the 7th floor of a garage in downtown Philadelphia. When I got out, the car looked like it could be back just a bit further, so I got in to move it.
Put my foot on the brake, hit the start button, and…
Nothing.
The car tried for a second, then just stopped.
Uh oh. Let’s try again.
Nope. Nothing.
Ugh!
I couldn’t do anything about it at that moment so I went to my meeting (an NSA Philadelphia meeting with the amazing Kelly Swanson) and hoped it would turn on a few hours later. If not, I would be calling AAA.
As I walked to my meeting I cursed at myself, because I will embarrassingly admit that just a few days earlier I pushed the start button and nothing happened too.
That time, when I tried the second time, the car worked.
“Hmm, I should probably get that checked out.”
Did I? No. No I did not.
Instead, I said, “yes, but.”
“Yes, but maybe it was a one-off thing.”
“Yes, but I don’t have time to take it to the mechanic right now.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to pay to have it looked at.”
I kept saying “yes, but” until the universe (or at least the car) forced me to say “yes, and.”
Isn’t this way so many of us operate?
We get an indication of trouble, and instead of dealing with it we say, “yes, but” and hope it will fix itself.
We get a warning sign and we say, “yes, but I don’t have time to deal with this right now.”
We have a thought, an inner nagging that a situation needs to be dealt with and we say, “yes, but I will take care of it later.”
We all do this, even though...
- the problem rarely goes away on its own
- waiting often makes it worse
- when you wait until life forces your hand, the timing and circumstance is less than ideal (like being on the 7th floor of a garage in downtown Philly instead of in your own driveway at home)
“Ding” moments happen and some of them truly come out of nowhere. But many times the warning signs are there in advance, we just “yes, but” them as long as we can.
What warning signs are you “yes, butting” right now?”
P.S. I got incredibly lucky that day because when I got back to my car it actually started! I drove it right to the mechanic and got it checked out - it just needed a new battery. Thankfully a minor repair, but I learned a major lesson that day!