Recently I saw a commercial for the Micro Touch One razor. It is a razor with only one blade. One of the selling points they make in the commercial is “professional barbers still only use one blade.” This one makes me laugh because of my experience having a professional barber give me a shave. The week before I got married, I was going to get my hair cut by a barber to make sure it was cut correctly. Normally I cut my hair and I cut it all one length, but for my wedding I decided to have it faded a bit. I decided to find a barber that also offered a shave. My experience getting the shave was fine. The warm shaving cream was nice. He did a good job not giving me any cuts. It wasn’t something I would probably ever pay for again, but I enjoyed it.
However, when I got home and checked out my shave in the mirror, I already had a 5 o’clock shadow. The professional barber’s single blade shave didn’t even come close to how well my multi-blade razor would. I basically had to re-shave my face. So every time I see the Micro Touch One razor commercial, their sales pitch immediately makes me not want to buy the product.
Sometimes we can get so stuck in our traditions that we don’t make room for improvement. When we ask someone why they do something, we have probably all heard the answer, “That’s the way I’ve always done it.” Don’t get me wrong, traditions are great, but they can also hold us back. With my job at the YMCA, I try to challenge myself to never let anything stay just because that’s how it was done before. Sure our programs may have been great, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be better. Traditions can become an excuse for complacency. [Tweet this]
This doesn’t mean you need to throw out traditions and just get rid of them. Just don’t be so set in them that you don’t see room for improvement. At my After School program, we have offered homework since before I became the director. This year, we are tweaking our homework program to try to make it better. Rather than saying, “We offer homework and that’s that,” we are taking that “tradition” and making it better. Your tradition may just need an upgrade. It may be time to come out with Tradition 2.0.
Traditions are a wonderful thing, but I challenge you to not be so set in them that they keep you from bigger and better things.
What are your thoughts on traditions? Leave a comment below and let me know!
until next time…
Photo courtesy of Gabriele Fanelli