In today’s fast paced world, we make quick decisions every day. In doing research for this FFfT, I read articles that suggested we make between 35,000–75,000 decisions daily. Considering that we sleep eight hours a day that means on average we make a decision every second. Sounds crazy, but when you think about what goes into your day, it may make sense. We make decisions on what to eat, what to wear, where to go, who to meet, what is important… The brain is an amazing organ.
The brain moves extraordinarily fast. Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov conducted experiments that show all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger based on their appearance.
Judging a book by its cover has its flaws. You only get to the truth after you spend time digging into it, and you may miss out on a great story if you don’t. The same applies to people. You never really know a person until you spend time getting to know them. You may never know how good or bad a person is until you spend time and build a relationship with them. You may still choose to not associate with them, but you may also discover some great people with great ideas with whom you enjoy spending time.
At J2, this is how we have built our business. One of our tenants is relationships. We have clients that have been with us since the beginning. I attribute that to us not judging them based on our initial meeting and spending time with them. The rewards of not judging are incredible.
Who knows, a book with a plain cover and a simple title may be more important, more entertaining, or more useful than a book covered in sparkles.
“In the end, people should be judged by their actions, since in the end, it was actions that defined everyone.” —Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song
Have a great weekend.
—Vijay
About Friday Food for Thought (FFfT)
I frequently attend conferences and retreats on entrepreneurship and leadership and while I am away, the J2 team picks up the slack, allowing me to learn to be better at what I do. I wanted to share what I was learning with my team, so I created the weekly FFfT emails in November of 2015 and have been writing them ever since.
Before long, the J2 staff began sharing the FFfT emails with their friends and family and now other leaders have asked to be included, which led to the creation of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!