Measure twice

Give anything that matters a second glance

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio
Good Morning, This is Law. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to follow the carpenter's advice to measure
twice and cut once. Whether you take this advice literally

(00:26):
or metaphorically, it pays to make sure you are doing
what you intend before. What you are doing is irreversible
for anything in the material world. It's a good idea
to literally measure twice, or at least take the time
to make sure you get your measurement right the first time.

(00:49):
You don't want to realize belatedly that you just put
one tablespoon of salt into your cake batter when you
meant to put in one teaspoon. We discovered that the
bathrooms in the history or house we are renovating had
what's called a rough in for the toilets that's ten
inches from the wall. It's more common for bathrooms to
have a twelve inch rough in. It completely changes which

(01:12):
toilets you can buy good. We figured that out before
we had lots of toilets that didn't fit. By measuring
twice and checking your work, you prevent avoidable errors. Measuring
twice metaphorically can be wise too. A quick second glance

(01:33):
can save you from lots of hassle or embarrassment. Let's
just say it's not going to be quick to get
three dollars back if you accidentally type hundred seventy instead
of seven dollars when you're doing online bill pay. And
let's just say it's going to be awkward if you
text your new colleague a person named Babs and your

(01:55):
phone auto corrects it to Babe. Measure twice, that is,
checking what your message says before something happens that is
going to be hard to take back. The idea of
measuring twice extends to anything that is going to be
hard to change. If you are giving an important presentation,

(02:16):
you'd be wise to practice in front of a trusted
colleague or two, or at least ask them to review
your slides and notes. That way, you can save yourself
from making a reference that could accidentally derail the presentation.
Turns out that CEO you are sharing an inspirational quote
from was just arrested for tax fraud. You've been too

(02:40):
busy working on your presentation to read the news. Hopefully
your colleague is more on top of things. Even if
you think you have proof read a paper or newsletter
or other printed material, well ask someone else to take
a look before you print thousands of copies. Measure to
ice a great Many years ago, I was involved with

(03:03):
a newspaper that was running a very important story about
two local school principles resigning. At the same time, the
headline talked about the district losing its principles spelled with
an L E at the end, not an a L,
which turns out to be more of an editorial statement.
Somehow things didn't get measured twice. In any case, none

(03:28):
of us is perfect, So measure twice, cut once. All
you will lose is a tiny bit of time, but
you might save yourself a lot of time and cleaning
up the mess. Have you learned the hard way the
value of measuring twice and cutting once. I'd love to

(03:48):
hear your stories. You can reach me at Laura at
Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

(04:12):
You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast
p o D. You can also shoot me an email
at before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media dot com
that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

(04:35):
Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
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