We’ve been challenged since an early age to “go the extra mile.”
An extra mile may feel like an overwhelming amount of work in an already busy world.
I prefer the concept of the extra inch.
Infinitely more accessible.
Deeply practical.
Dead simple.
Instead of going the extra mile once or twice a year, reframe your approach to go the extra inch with rhythmic consistency.
To me, the extra inch is that little bit of extra effort applied to every deliverable you produce.
It’s the surprising language choice in an email to a client.
The extra garnish on the plate before serving a meal in your restaurant.
An extra provocative question during an impromptu meeting with a colleague.
That little something special you add to your big sales presentation.
If you’re a student, the extra inch may be 10 additional minutes of study per day.
If you’re a software engineer, it could be one extra round of testing before launch.
Those working on projects can add one extra idea or concept that wasn’t part of the specifications but takes the task to new heights.
Scientists can add one extra experiment, while athletes can add one extra set in the gym.
The concept applies to every aspect of your personal and professional life.
Add an extra inch when interacting with your significant other, just like you did years ago when dating.
Give an extra inch to your kids by being fully present and engaged.
Contribute an extra inch to your community or favorite charity.
In fact, that extra inch is the stuff of greatness.
It’s what gets you noticed and promoted at work.
It allows you to secure the deal, score the investor, or drive the bottom line.
In a world of mediocrity where most people deliver the bare minimum, you can shine brightly by regularly adding just one extra touch of creativity, care & compassion.
Now, why does it matter?
Let me give you a vivid example.
Between 1750 and 1810, London doubled in size from 750,000 to 1.5 million people.
It was the largest, most overcrowded city in the world.
Consequently, the infrastructure wasn’t set up for that many people.
There were no sewers in those days, every house had a cesspit.
That meant 200,000 cesspits all over London.
And most of them were overflowing.
Into the alleys, into the streets, then back into the houses, down the walls into the basement.
A quick fix was to divert all that raw sewage into the drains.
The drains that carried the rainwater into the Thames.
The Thames, where the water companies pumped the drinking water from.
And two massive cholera outbreaks killed tens of thousands of people.
But it wasn’t until the ‘Big Stink’ of 1858 that the authorities took much notice.
The Thames flows right past Parliament and the stench of raw sewage was overpowering.
So Joseph Bazalgette, Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, designed and built the first system of enclosed sewers.
A massive, entirely brick-built project.
Over a thousand miles of street sewers, which would empty into eighty miles of main sewers, all of it underground.
And take all that human waste away from London.
But the part that impresses me most was the way Bazalgette designed the sewers.
He took into account everyone living in London.
He made the diameter of the sewers more than enough to handle everyone’s waste.
Then he did something unthinkable to most people.
He doubled it.
Let’s stop here & repeat that.
He calculated the most that could possibly be needed.
Then he doubled it.
DOUBLED.
Bazalgette said, ‘We’re only going to be doing this once. We’d better allow for the unforeseen.’
I wish everyone had that good judgment to allow for 'the unforeseen.'
What no one could possibly have foreseen when Bazalgette built those sewers was what would happen a hundred years in the future.
In the 1960s, councils all over London would be building massive high-rise blocks of flats, emptying their waste into those hundred-year-old Victorian sewers.
If Bazalgette had stuck to the original specification, the sewers would have overflowed back up into the streets.
But they didn’t.
Because Bazalgette didn’t try to get away with the bare minimum.
The way most people do.
Spend absolutely the least possible amount we can get away with.
Do the job on as tight a budget as possible.
Skimp, and call it efficiency.
We need to learn a lesson from Bazalgette about doing a job properly.
Stop thinking under-spec and start thinking over-spec.
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Inspired by Dave Trott, Seth Godin, Al Pacino & many more.
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