My daily ritual at the office begins at the Keurig.
There’s something cathartic about enjoying a cup together with my team. Our shared kinship with Newman’s Own Extra Bold and it’s wondrous dark magic brings me unspeakable joy. However, I’ve realized that I introduce needless stress to an otherwise stress-free process.
I am a cream-and-sugar man. (That’s right. All you smug black coffee drinkers can turn your nose, but I am not ashamed.) Post brew I apply a carefully measured amount of artificial bio-hazards, stir, and indulge. Not a painful process. Quite the opposite, in fact.
In spite of this, I have recently taken note that I try to rush this process. I simply can’t get through it fast enough.
I think this is because I have a chronic lack of patience.
FACT: There’s never competition for the coffee maker.
FACT: There’s rarely a meeting or task demanding my immediate attention.
FACT: The machine is physically at the center of it all, so I’m not missing out on any conversation or event going on.
I simply want to get through the process as quickly as possible. Because of that, I invite needless tension into my life.
That’s silly. Worse than that, it causes a slow erosion of character.
Since I perceived this at the Keurig, I’ve noticed the access I regularly provide anxiety to various areas of life. When filling my cup full of water. When popping popcorn in the microwave. When putting my kids to bed. While listening to my wife tell a story.
Erosion takes time. It takes repetition. It takes practice. I have been training myself to be impatient. Virtue, like vice, must be practiced in order to transform character.
Today, virtue begins at the coffee maker.
