Clayton Christensen, the Harvard business professor and author of The Innovator's Dilemma, was once asked to make... a sacrifice. At the time, he was working at a management consulting firm, and one of the partners came to him and told him he needed to come in on Saturday to help work on a project. Clay simply responded: "Oh, I am so sorry. I have made the commitment that every Saturday is a day to be with my wife and children."
The partner, displeased, stormed off, but later he returned and he said: "Clay, fine. I have talked with everyone on the team and they said they will come in on Sunday instead. So I will expect you to be there." Clay sighed and said: "I appreciate you trying to do that. But Sunday will not work. I have given Sunday to God and so I won't be able to come in." If the partner was frustrated before, he was much more so now.
Still, Clay was not fired for standing his ground, and while his choice was not popular in the moment, ultimately he was respected for it. The boundaries paid off.
Clay recalls: "That taught me an important lesson. If I had made an exception then I might have made it many times." Boundaries are a little like the walls of a sandcastle. The second we let one fall over, the rest of them come crashing down.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.165.
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