What Your Parking Strategy Says About You

The way you do anything is the way you do everything, according to a brilliant coach, author and O Magazine columnist Martha Beck. If you observe a man make coffee, you can tell a lot about the way he does other things: Does he rush or take his time? Does he make a production out of it, or is it a part of routine? Does he ask you how you like your coffee or does he simply serve it and says “try it!”?

One of the things that I noticed about my husband when we first met was the way he parked his car. In New York City, parking can be quite a challenge. My husband didn’t mind taking a risk and driving up close to the venue, hoping that a parking spot would be available. Surprisingly, often it was. If the spot wasn’t available, he would check whether I feel like parking farther and taking a walk, or prefer to keep looking. He wasn’t nervous or stressed, because he always factored in enough time for parking. When he found a spot for parallel parking, he was parked in one smooth move.

My husband’s approach to parking proved to be a perfect metaphor for his approach to life: taking reasonable risks, knowing when it’s ok to take a longer walk and when to spend money to be closer to the destination, being a good judge of time, having an eye for evaluating any space and quickly figuring out how to work with it.

If you live in a busy city, can you describe your parking strategy?

If you cook, can you describe the way you cook dinner? For example, do you follow a recipe or improvise? Do you focus on taste or presentation? Would you rather cook something quick or something elaborate?

Can you describe the process for choosing your outfit for work?

Go ahead, take a few minutes and describe any of these things in writing. Then, use it as a metaphor for the way you live, and evaluate whether the approach works for you.

If you want, e-mail me your description at alina@alinabas.com, and we can talk about the way it translates into the rest of your life.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything. Change the way you do one thing in your life on regular basis, and change a pattern for the way you do all things in your life in regular basis.