This summer the local grocery store played a cruel joke on me. It remodeled and switched around its layout. Just when I had the locations of all my regular items memorized too.
On a Saturday afternoon I commiserated with an older man who was looking for jell-o. His wife, who needed to make a quick salad for a church potluck, had sent him to the store with a short list.
A short list maybe, but she must have forgotten about the remodel, and he looked like he had been wandering awhile. Dazed, he asked me if I knew where the jell-o was. “Probably the same place where they hid the bread,” I said. So we set off to look for strawberry jell-o and wheat bread together, muttering along the way about why the grocery store thought they needed to upgrade its lights, flooring and display cases anyway.
In truth, both food items were found in relatively close proximity to their original location. Plus the layout is much nicer, but that isn’t the point.
The point – driven home to me in the grocery store that day – is about how much we humans depend on and enjoy consistency. It’s a simple life truth and yet we often forget it.
Stop for a minute and think about the places where a little extra consistency would pay off in your life (and maybe the life of someone else). A few suggestions:
Mark a date on the calendar and schedule a whole family farm meeting every month. Some months you might have quite a bit to talk about, others maybe not, but it helps keep the door of communication open.
If you have noticed a way your clients like a certain product, do your best to delivery that quality to them every time. Consistency in product results in consistency in clients.
If you made a commitment to attend every one of your son’s home basketball games, (and not just when the farm work allows) do you think his pride and capability as an athlete would increase? What other ways can you be consistent in your children’s lives?
While volunteering to help with something is a noble gesture, make sure you follow through and are dependable. The project you are helping with will thrive under your commitment.
And don’t forget to commend those who are showing consistency. Let them know you appreciate their dependability and commitment.
– Codi Vallery-Mills