True story…
The husband enjoys Costco Butter Pound Cakes. In a morning he opened up a new one and, like what he always did, cut each cake into three even-sized pieces so that for the next nine days he could simply pick one piece each day for breakfast, as opposed to just cute out one piece for the day and do the same one-piece cut for the next eight days.
The wife does things differently, though. When she is getting a water bottle from a bag, she would open up a small hole that is big enough for that one bottle, as oppose to getting a scissor and opening up the entire plastic bag. Of course, this gives an immediate satisfaction, but it requires forcing a slightly bigger hole every time after in order to retrieve more water bottles.
A simple observation like this made me think: what else can we learn from habits like these?
The husband delays immediate satisfaction and puts up extra effort upfront in anticipation of future needs. The wife is quite the opposite, spending just adequate effort to get what is needed at that moment and leaving future needs to be addressed, well, in the future.
Can I say that the first habit is a bit more strategic – the person tends to think and plan ahead; and the second one is more spontaneous – but the person can be happier and more easily satisfied?
Like the old saying, everyone is different. 😀
The couple are happily married for over 20 years.
I would like to think, their habits, although contradictory, also complementary, have helped along the way.