This is probably the most important thing I learned during the last two years, since I started my first “real life” business. And by “real life” I mean a coworking space, not an online portal, or a network of online portals, or a premium WordPress theme, or a personal blog. All these digital things, I was kinda used to them. I’ve been doing them for quite some time. But managing a real space, with real people showing up? Not so much.
So, when I started Connect Hub, just a little over two years ago, I had to learn a lot of new stuff.
But one of these processes really kinda stood up.
Saving The World, One Roll At A Time
In just a couple of months I was getting relatively good at predicting the amount of consumable stuff we had to buy, with one exception: toilet paper. I knew exactly how much water we need, the right amount of coffee, cleaning products and so on. But when it came to toilet paper I had to admit that I was always, always, always taken by surprise.
It wasn’t uncommon to have to stop in the middle of the day from whatever I was doing (operational stuff, mostly) to make a quick run to the store and buy 20 more rolls. Because it was an emergency, you know. I used to call these little escapades “saving the world”. In a very real sense, I was actually saving the world. Not Marvel-hero style, but still effective.
Waste Management
I think it took around 6 months until I was able to properly predict the right amount of toilet paper needed, with less than 10% variation. But during those months I learned something much more subtle, and much more profound than just the mere cost of it.
I learned how to take care of the constant waste we’re generating, as human beings, in whatever we’’re doing with our lives.
We have this very powerful bias which makes us think that every process will execute exactly as planned. If we prepare well enough, we can get really close. And the bias is making us approximate this “really close” with “exactly as planned”.
In reality, it never happens like that and the part that we’re always ignoring is the waste that we’re generating. It’s the waste that we’re producing in our relationships, in our jobs, in our roles as parents, or friends or business partners. Because this shit is not visible, and it’s not stinking and it’s not gross, we just ignore it. But it’s there. It has to be taken care of.
It was only when a certain version of this waste was literally obscuring my normal activity that I realized how powerful it is.
Every type of waste has its own way to be managed.
For the most common, you have toilet paper.
For waste generated by reckless behavior in relationships, you can have excuses.
For waste generated by greed, you can have generosity.
For aggression, you can have tolerance.
For indifference, you can have empathy.
But, eventually, each and every waste we generate in our live must be taken care of.
Not managing this waste will eventually suffocate your business, your relationships, your life.
That’s why I’m saying you can never have enough toilet paper.
This post is part of a 30 days challenge on business, you can find the entire list of articles here.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
