We all know about the importance of quality over quantity. And what I find interesting is to think about what you prefer (quantity or quality) as it relates to different areas of your life.
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We often assume that quality is the better alternative. But this doesn't always have to be the case. The key is to be aware of what type of person you are and be proactive about making the right choice for you. And if you find yourself quite far to one end of the spectrum to ask yourself what it would be life to go the other way. And a bit like efficiency and effectiveness, often we need a balance between the two.
Take me for example, in some cases I value quality, in others I value quantity:
- When it comes to the content I create, I’d say I lean more towards the quantity side. That’s not to say that I don’t care about the quality of what I create. But when I produce content, my main goal is to be consistent and provide value each week. I can always make a blog post or video better, but what I value more is being consistent (i.e. quantity).
- In terms of physical possessions, my wife and I are more on the quality end of the spectrum. We like to a minimal and organised home and we don’t have a lot of stuff. But I allow myself to have a pretty up to date MacBook and iPhone which I get a lot of value from.
- When it comes to clients I work with, this has changed over time. At the start of my business, I was open to working with anyone that contacted me. Now I prefer to work with quality clients that are the right fit for me.
- Reading is an interesting one. Some people create goals to read so many books per year. I’ve never had a goal like this. I don’t really care how much I read, I just prefer to read a few enjoyable or informative books each year.
- This even applies to relationships. Some people like having big social or professional networks. Others have a smaller network with a focus on a few key relationships. My wife doesn’t mind that she doesn’t have a lot of friends but she’s is VERY close to a few key people.
- When it comes to clothes, funnily enough, I’m not really a quality or quantity person. I don’t have many clothes and the clothes I do have are very basic. I’m very happy in jeans and a t-shirt. I have a few collared shirts and jackets for formal events but they’re far from designer items.
- When it comes to food, we’re very much on the quality side. This is an area of our life where we’re happy to pay more for nice, healthy food.
- It’s the same with our CrossFit. Yes, we could pay less to go to a normal gym but choose to go to a gym that runs low-volume, high-quality classes with fantastic coaching.
- Now that I mention it, CrossFit is a quantity thing for sure. There are two sides to our gym. There’s the Olympic lifting side where everyone is focussing on lifting heavy weights and quality reps. And we’re on the CrossFit side where we do as many reps as we can within a given timeframe (and the quality of the reps definitely goes down as you tire out).
This is an interesting exercise to go through and I’d encourage yourself to answer the questioning: ‘What are some areas of your life where quality is really important? And in what areas do you value quantity more?’
There’s no right or wrong answer here. You may disagree with some of my preferences and that’s fine. I’d love to hear about some of your own choices in the comments below!