The, Rules of Work, 4th Edition

RULE 31

Identify key times and events

A cobra has a lot of power, a lot of venom, a lot of energy. But how often do you see one strike? Rarely. Cobras only use all that power and energy when it is:

• appropriate
• meaningful
• advantageous
• beneficial
• necessary
• important.

They strike when in danger or when they need to feed. The rest of the time you wouldn’t know they were there. The rest of the time they don’t even look like cobras. They don’t display their hood except when they have to. You will become a cobra. There is no point using all your energy and power when it ain’t necessary. What you have to do is identify the key times and events – then you strike.

A cobra’s key times and events are fairly simple to identify – threat and hunger. But ...