Imagine you have a machine in your office which has a single button. Everyday, once a day, you press the button and $200 spits out. At first, you were skeptical as to whether the button would continue to trigger the release of another $200 each day, but after several years, you have become confident in the machine’s ability to provide you with $200 each day, as long as you dutifully press the button. In fact, you have developed a routine leading up to the pressing of the button. You wake up, get dressed, enjoy a cup of coffee on your way to the office and then… you press the button and confidently wait for your $200.
One morning, you wake up, run through your typical routine and sit down in front of the machine. You confidently press the button and lean back in your chair to wait for the $200 to come out. After letting your mind wander, you realize the money is taking longer to appear than usual. You try to remember, at what time exactly, did you press the button? Maybe, like that one time several years ago, you thought you pressed the button, but missed and had to press the button again.
Cautiously, you press the button again and note the time on your watch. Again, nothing happens. You press the button once more, this time holding the button down longer than usual. Nothing. You try pressing the button twice in rapid succession, then several more times. Still nothing. Soon, you are frantically pushing the button every way you know how, mashing, punching, even pounding on the button.
Exasperated, you sit back in your chair and reflect. Why didn’t the money button work? What did you do differently today? Will the money button work tomorrow? As the last thought precipitates, you become alarmed. Could the money button be broken? What would you do if, suddenly, there was no money button?
Immediately, you begin tapping the money button again, more frantically than before, so quickly and ferociously are you banging on the money button that you begin to sweat and your fingers start to hurt. Eventually, you relent and sit back in your chair to reflect once more.
The money button popped into my head while I was describing to a friend what was going on at a company we were discussing. Basically, the company couldn’t figure out why revenue was declining when they were doing the exact same thing they’d always been doing.
From time to time, I’ll come back to this metaphor and others I think of to spur some “war story” conversations and just plain vent.
Jerel – This is a great post! I think it could be extrapolated to several areas in business or even individual’s personal lives. It brings to memory the book “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson. It is important for individuals and businesses to continue to further develop other sources so we are not 100% dependent upon the “seemingly” reliable source(s) that result in fully complacent behavior. This means further developing ideas and ventures to stay ahead of competition or even starting that business before someone else with the same idea executes while you were too lazy to get started (I’m sure this sounds familiar to most–it’s happened to me.). I will end with this quote I heard from Eric Thomas recently, “You must take advantage of the opportunity in the lifetime of the opportunity.” Every opportunity has a lifetime, make sure you take advantage of it and look for others before the money button stops working. Again, great post Jerel!
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