Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Law. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to follow the carpenter's advice to measure
Speaker 1: twice and cut once. Whether you take this advice literally
Speaker 1: or metaphorically, it pays to make sure you are doing
Speaker 1: what you intend before. What you are doing is irreversible
Speaker 1: for anything in the material world. It's a good idea
Speaker 1: to literally measure twice, or at least take the time
Speaker 1: to make sure you get your measurement right the first time.
Speaker 1: You don't want to realize belatedly that you just put
Speaker 1: one tablespoon of salt into your cake batter when you
Speaker 1: meant to put in one teaspoon. We discovered that the
Speaker 1: bathrooms in the history or house we are renovating had
Speaker 1: what's called a rough in for the toilets that's ten
Speaker 1: inches from the wall. It's more common for bathrooms to
Speaker 1: have a twelve inch rough in. It completely changes which
Speaker 1: toilets you can buy good. We figured that out before
Speaker 1: we had lots of toilets that didn't fit. By measuring
Speaker 1: twice and checking your work, you prevent avoidable errors. Measuring
Speaker 1: twice metaphorically can be wise too. A quick second glance
Speaker 1: can save you from lots of hassle or embarrassment. Let's
Speaker 1: just say it's not going to be quick to get
Speaker 1: three dollars back if you accidentally type hundred seventy instead
Speaker 1: of seven dollars when you're doing online bill pay. And
Speaker 1: let's just say it's going to be awkward if you
Speaker 1: text your new colleague a person named Babs and your
Speaker 1: phone auto corrects it to Babe. Measure twice, that is,
Speaker 1: checking what your message says before something happens that is
Speaker 1: going to be hard to take back. The idea of
Speaker 1: measuring twice extends to anything that is going to be
Speaker 1: hard to change. If you are giving an important presentation,
Speaker 1: you'd be wise to practice in front of a trusted
Speaker 1: colleague or two, or at least ask them to review
Speaker 1: your slides and notes. That way, you can save yourself
Speaker 1: from making a reference that could accidentally derail the presentation.
Speaker 1: Turns out that CEO you are sharing an inspirational quote
Speaker 1: from was just arrested for tax fraud. You've been too
Speaker 1: busy working on your presentation to read the news. Hopefully
Speaker 1: your colleague is more on top of things. Even if
Speaker 1: you think you have proof read a paper or newsletter
Speaker 1: or other printed material, well ask someone else to take
Speaker 1: a look before you print thousands of copies. Measure to
Speaker 1: ice a great Many years ago, I was involved with
Speaker 1: a newspaper that was running a very important story about
Speaker 1: two local school principles resigning. At the same time, the
Speaker 1: headline talked about the district losing its principles spelled with
Speaker 1: an L E at the end, not an a L,
Speaker 1: which turns out to be more of an editorial statement.
Speaker 1: Somehow things didn't get measured twice. In any case, none
Speaker 1: of us is perfect, So measure twice, cut once. All
Speaker 1: you will lose is a tiny bit of time, but
Speaker 1: you might save yourself a lot of time and cleaning
Speaker 1: up the mess. Have you learned the hard way the
Speaker 1: value of measuring twice and cutting once. I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear your stories. You can reach me at Laura at
Speaker 1: Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast
Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email
Speaker 1: at before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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