What’s It Worth?

“Max, if you can find anything worth $1,000 to sneak out for, hell, call me, and I’ll go with you.”

–     Vince Lombardi, legendary Green Bay Packers coach to Max McGee, legendary Packer and legendary partier

A friend gave me a new copy of one of my favorite books from my youth, Instant Replay;  The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer, and this quote is from one of the first stories in the book.  You see, McGee had snuck out after curfew once, and got fined $50.  (Remember, $30,000 was what the best in the game were getting paid back then!)  Lombardi said, “I you do it again, it’s $100.”  Then it was $250.  Then it was $500, and that’s when Vince couldn’t take it any more.  The threatened fine was doubled again.  What, Vince wondered, could possibly be worth a $1,000 fine?!

For us, it’s probably not sneaking out after curfew.  It might be stopping short of making one more phone call we know we need to make.  It might be leaving out one little detail in a negotiation.  It might be skipping our morning quiet time to catch another thirty minutes of sleep, or it might be putting off that assignment until the last minute, knowing full well that it wouldn’t get the treatment it deserved.

It begs the question:  “What’s it worth?”

Opportunity missed is opportunity wasted.  Time lost is lost.  It’s not invested, it’s not spent.  It’s just…lost!

But there’s always something shiny distracting us.  There is always a reason…no, wait.  Strike that.  There is always an excuse.

So, what is it worth?  What’s it gonna cost — what’s it worth, really — to take that shortcut, short the detail?  What would it be worth to do the thing right?  The first time?  Every time?  What is it worth to know that thirty minutes into every day you’ve already got more out of it than most of the people you work with, let alone the ones you’ll compete with will get in the entire day?

Everything is about trade offs.  And in order to get them right, we need to know, “What’s it worth?”