Just a Skosh…
I was backing my truck into the parking stall at the grandkid’s baseball game the other evening. We had generous space on the passenger side, but things were a little tight on my side. “Hang on – I need to move over a skosh,” I said to my wife before we hopped out. A few quick moves and we were on our way – door dings averted and off to watch the littles whack the ball around.
I thought about how easily that word “skosh” had rolled off my tongue, and how clearly both of us knew what it meant. I needed to move over a little bit in the stall – but I just called it a skosh because, well, we both knew what that meant.
Skosh means a little bit. So does a smidge. Or a titch or a bit or, as my wife likes to say, just enough to bother.
It got me thinking about the principle behind making small adjustments that, over time, produce quantifiable change. It takes a disciplined approach, of course, to make these adjustments. And nothing happens unless you decide to commit.
Imagine you found a way to save $5.00 per day by taking one thing out of your spending norm and, instead, putting it into savings each month. That’d be $150 per month. Imagine that little skosh of cash money growing at a conservative 5% per year. It’d be worth almost $25k in 10 years and you or I wouldn’t have spent that $5.00 on something that probably wasn’t all that healthy for us in the first place. $18k over time becomes $25k over time because you decided to commit – it’s kind of that simple. Compound change only happens with decided people who commit.
Mother Teresa was a remarkable woman. Her life is marked by what many might call massive sacrifice and unfailing commitment. I think they’d be right, yet I also notice that her work and her words don’t focus on what she is famous for, but on what was familiar to her. Small things done consistently over time – and not parenthetically – in the tough places and times.
“Never underestimate a small act of kindness done with great love.” Mother Teresa
What is a small act of kindness? Is it kindness done just a skosh? A Smidge? A Titch?
Encouraging you today to choose to do one small thing (just a skosh, just a smidge or titch) because you decided it was important, even if it cost you just a little. One small thing that might give someone's world more joy, more pleasure, more ease.
Kind people change the world for those around them. When joy comes, we experience life more wholly and holy. And people working from joy get more done in them and through them.
If you, like me, come up short in this area from time to time – forgiving and making things right is the next thing to do. We know that – but do we do it? We need to do it. We need to adjust the ego just a skosh and go admit the insensitivity and ask for forgiveness, even if it might still be a tender topic. It’s part of being kind. It’s part of being committed. Some days, that is the deposit we make.
Next time you hear or use one of these skosh-y type words, be reminded of how committed you are to making your life and this team better one little bit at a time. That’s how we became a great team – just a skosh at a time and here we are now, with you and me carrying the torch.
Decide and commit to just a skosh that moves the needle a smidge for someone.
