Book Jeff

Lunch Worthy

Several years ago, I had a colleague in higher education, Carol, who had an interesting story about changing her major back when she was a student in college. Changing her major wasn’t the interesting part; nearly 70 percent of all college students switch majors at least once before graduating. What was interesting was when she switched.

It wasn’t after the first year or the first semester. It wasn’t even after the first month, first week, or even at the end of the first day. No, she switched immediately after lunch following her first morning. Why? I wondered. What the heck happened?

Carol went on to explain how everyone in her major spent the first morning taking assessment and placement tests. For her, it was a breeze. No problem. A cakewalk. However, when everyone gathered around for lunch, there was nothing but weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Gnash! Gnash! Gnash!

While she sailed through the various exams, everyone else struggled. “Oh my gosh, that was the longest morning ever,” cried one student. “I was fighting for my life for a full four hours,” wailed another. When someone stated, “I’m never going to make it through the next four years,” every head nodded in agreement. Every head except Carol’s.

That was the moment she knew.

If I don’t change my major NOW, then I’m going to spend the rest of my career, maybe even the rest of my life, eating lunch with these people.” Realizing the people in her major weren’t “lunch worthy,” Carol skipped the scheduled afternoon testing sessions and instead spent it in the Registrar’s Office picking out a new and different major.

Ask yourself this question: On any given day, who do you spend the most time with? By the way, I already know the answer. Yourself!

Seriously, besides yourself, who do you spend the most time with day after day? It’s an important question because Carol already knew what we often hear from personal development professionals today, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn frequently receives credit for coming up with this idea first. And subsequent studies have shown that it’s true. Your friends really are your future.

Often, Walt Disney ate lunch in his office at the studio. Alone. He enjoyed his simple tastes, especially chili, and keeping his own company. Maybe he felt he was the only one worthy of his time?

One reason Walt loved working on Disneyland was it gave him the opportunity to go back to the beginning of his career and handpick the people who would work on designing, creating, and building his dream. John Hench, who started at Disney in 1939 to work on Fantasia, remembers Walt walking by his desk one day and saying, “I want you to work on Disneyland…and you are going to like it!”

Once the park opened, Walt set Saturdays aside for “walking the park.” In the morning, he gathered his management team, including John Hench as well as Joe Fowler, Dick Irvine, Tommy Walker, Bill Martin, Truman Woodworth, and Marty Sklar. The walks wrapped up around noon, and then everyone headed to Harvey’s Lunchwagon for hamburgers and a discussion over how to keep improving the park and overall guest experience.

Take a moment this week to look around and make sure you are in the right surroundings. Do your friends support you and your goals? Are you on the right team? Have you put a lunch-worthy team together? If the answer is no, and the people around you are totally eating your lunch, then it’s time to make some changes.

Major changes.

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