Maximize Your Life

The other day I was in the garden watering pots of wilted shasta daisies when I noticed my husband scrounging through the shed, gathering up speciality car products to detail his brand new car. It made me think how helpful and interesting it would be to write about people who detail their brand new cars. People who even think of detailing their brand new cars. So I put down the hose and walked over to the shed.

"I'm thinking of writing a blog entry called Maximize Your Life, based on what I've learned from you." It's better to let Morgan know when he's about to appear in print or in a talk, just in case someone surprises him on a Saturday morning at Peet's with the news.

He chuckled, paused for a few seconds, glanced up at me and said, "You should put all your blog entries together and send them to a publisher."

This, dear readers, is the heart and soul of the art of maximizing: take anything that looks pretty good - your car, your wife's blog, your business, your surf equipment - and make it into the best it could possibly be. Plunge ahead against all odds and what the rest of us would consider rational thought, against the doubts and opinions of others, against the uncertainties of this world. The glass is not just half full, it's on the verge of overflowing - even if only you can see it.

Several years ago Morgan and I went to a Strengths Finder class. We each bought a book and looked inside to find the access codes that took us to the online test. The results of the test would indicate our personality strengths which, we were promised, would be useful in business, leadership, team building, and life in general. I liked the "life in general" category; Morgan liked the rest.

On the back cover of the book I saw that Strengths Finder had been on the best sellers list in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Week, and had become a standard in personality profiling. So we took the test and identified our top five strengths. Then we read our handouts, listened to the conference speaker, and participated in small group activities. In the end Morgan and I looked at each other and admitted that we had indeed gained better knowledge of ourselves and garnered new insight into our behavior, talents, and . . . strengths.

I remember three of my strengths: Communication, Connectedness, and Ideation. All three focused around words, ideas, and seeing connecting links between things. Morgan's list sounded much more practical and useful: Achiever, Analytical, and Maximizer. While it all sounded exactly like him, it was the word maximizer that made all the puzzle pieces of my life suddenly fall into place. "People strong in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb."

For example: the first thing my mom said this morning when I picked her up for her hair appointment was, "Look what I found in the pouch of my walker after Morgie dropped me off last time." I peeked into the walker and saw two big spray bottles: High Gloss Hot Shine Tire Spray and Quik Mist & Wipe Detailer. Some of you might be thinking, "How can I get some of those? They sound amazing!" The rest of us might be thinking, "Really?"

I asked Morgan about it and he explained that in the trunk of his car he has a organizer with car products, surf gear, a couple of hats, and some emergency equipment. He said that while the walker was in the trunk, the spray bottles must have slipped into it. Does that sound unlikely to any of you? My suspicion is that while my mom was very slowly getting out of the front seat Morgan opened the trunk, got out the walker, grabbed the spray bottles and a microfiber cloth, quickly did a little hot shine on the tires, and mist & wipe on the back of the car. He realized he'd better get around to the passenger door with the walker, so he quickly stashed the spray bottles - but in his hurry he stuck them in the walker pouch instead of the trunk organizer.

I have benefitted enormously from Morgan perfecting the art of maximization. Sometimes it drives me a little crazy but I love how it's a one man job and I don't have to get involved. While he maximizes I have space and time to talk, connect, think, write and dream. I can go for a walk, grab a cup of coffee, and watch in amazement as he solves complex business problems, makes the most of every opportunity, works like play and plays like work.

The only thing in the back of my car right now is a crumpled, sandy beach towel and piles of dog fur that magically reappear every time Morgan maximizes my car. The good thing is that in some mysterious ways our strengths work together to strengthen each other. His maximizing is intriguing to me, alluring, and gives me stories to tell. My storytelling is entertaining to him, mystifying, and reminds him that there are always more products waiting for him in the trunk of his car.