Day 3: 2-Minute Warning

When watching sports have you ever noticed how many time warnings there are? In particular, I think about football and the last two minute warning. Men are focused creatures. They have a goal. They divide. They conquer. In addition to that, they have a timer going in their head that lets them know when they should move onto the next task. In the football example, a touchdown might be be pursued with greater intensity once they hear the 2 minute warning. The goal must be accomplished and now time is dwindling.

Because men are so one track minded, they are often oblivious to other things that are happening around them. So, your husband may be in the garage fixing the car and you call him in for dinner because it's ready NOW. What happens? He trudges in from the garage to appease you, but completely frustrated because he didn't accomplish his goal. Or, here's the one I'm guilty of most often: Telling my husband I'm ready to leave NOW. Then I realize that my husband is in the middle of a project and doesn't even have shoes on. Now we're both exasperated.

Today's challenge will go through the weekend. Give your husband a "2-minute warning" (customize the time for your unit). Do this before meals, before leaving, before any event that you believe will take him away from something he's working on. This will help him prioritize his time and accomplish a goal before moving onto the next task.

For those of you without your spouse at this time - practice this on your children. Men and children are much the same in this respect. They have great intensity when working on a given task. So, at the end of the evening, instead of saying I need you to pick up the playroom NOW - say, "Honey, I'm going to set the timer for 2 minutes. When it goes off, I'd like you to pick this room up." That way they have time to mentally disconnect from one task and move on to the other.