How Chemistry Taught Me One Key Consulting Principle

To be truly successful, I needed to be a few steps ahead of my leadership and clients. The trick here is consistently investing time into thinking what needs to happen in the future and prepare

Chemistry was the toughest subject for me in high school.

But I wanted to get perfect grades.

So, I had to crack this problem.

The chemistry teacher was tough and strict. A true fanatic of her profession. She truly believed that Chemistry is the most important subject in the world. And we are silly students who don't get it.

I missed a few classes at the beginning of the year and then couldn't catch up. All these complex formulas didn't make sense to me. I was hopelessly behind.

So I came up with this small life hack.

Before each class, I would read in advance the chapter we were going to discuss. And I would learn it inside out.

Then, when the teacher asked the questions, I would know all the answers.

Needless to say, I quickly became her favorite student. She found another true fan of her subject. I could see how she was appreciative that there was at least one person who cared.

I ended up getting the highest mark on the final test.

I felt like a genius who hacked the situation. Found a cheat code that nobody knew.

But who I really hacked is myself. As an unexpected by-product, I actually learned a lot about Chemistry.

For a long time it was just a funny story to tell. Little did I know that after many years that one little trick would be handy in consulting.

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After joining consulting and three years of constant struggle and stress, I learned one important lesson.

To be truly successful, I needed to be a few steps ahead of my leadership and clients.

This is when I remembered that one little trick from Chemistry class.

I asked myself can I repeat that trick here? How can I get ahead of everyone on my project?

I decided to consistently invest time in thinking about what needed to happen on the project in the next few weeks. And how I could prepare or shape the reality I needed.

Surprisingly, not many people did this. Many operate in a reactive mode.

So, I came up with this routine.

I would carve out one or two hours of thinking time in the morning.

During that time, I would think about what I needed to do during the day and week. How I could get ahead of everyone, and what key deliverables I could create.

Sometimes, I would think about a killer slide or write a storyline for my document. Anything that was the most impactful that day and required deep thinking.

This was a counterintuitive thing to do. Because consultants usually work long hours in the evening but start the day a little bit later.

I intuitively knew that time in the morning was more valuable than in the evening. And it was a really bad trade-off.

Therefore, I had to steal my time in the morning and try to disappear in the evening to have a proper sleep.

In the beginning, it can be challenging to do. Especially, if the manager is controlling every step. The more tenured and successful you become, the more freedom you will get.

Try this trick consistently and see what happens. Combine it with a prioritization approach shared in this post: Mastering Prioritization.

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P.S.

I feel your pain.

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