Bernard Roth: Stop Kidding Yourself

But I will never change my behavior if I don't tell myself that I really don't know the reason. Okay, now let me explain where my epiphany comes from. My epiphany comes from a board meeting in Berkeley. I was on a startup company. I was on the board of directors. And we'd have regular meetings, and the company didn't fail, but did quite well. So I had to keep going to meetings. And I was always late. I was always late, always. And I'd come in, in those days, it was Highway 17. And I'd come in, I'd say, oh, the traffic on Highway 17 was terrible. And they'd all say, it's okay, Bertie. We're just glad nothing happened, and all that, and it's okay. And I knew it wasn't okay. These are people who have lives and all that, and I was just holding them back. And it was just. And of course, I realized what it was, is I wasn't leaving enough time. And I wasn't leaving enough time since I didn't give them enough valence in my life. It wasn't important enough to me. So I realized I ought to make a decision. I either resign from the board or I ought to be there on time. And being there on time was as easy as getting out of bed. And it was just simply not doing. In those days, we had a teletype in my office, which is doing email, not doing a few extra emails, not making phone calls, no cell phones in those days, believe it or not, not making a few extra phone calls, talking to a colleague in the hall as I was leaving the building and leaving enough time. So even if there was, imagine that, traffic in Palo Alto and traffic in Berkeley and traffic on Highway 17, I'd get there on time. Once I got that epiphany, it changed my whole life. I used to be the person who was always late to everything. Now I'm the pain in the ass who starts everything on time.