Say what?

Stating your case quickly and clearly sometimes gets you what you want.

Several years ago my sister, my nephew, and I were running errands. It was late, and everyone was ready for dinner--my nine-year-old nephew particularly. He didn't react well to hunger, so I knew there wasn't time to head home and make dinner. Fortunately, the town offered plenty of restaurant choices, though a sit-down restaurant probably would take too long, too. Fast food it was.

I was driving, so I made the announcement:

"We're gonna run through a drive-through. Burger King or Taco Johns?"

My nephew immediately balked. "I wanna go to McDonalds."

I tried explaining that McDonalds was the absolutely worst fast food restaurant for a vegetarian (can't even eat their fries, and their salads all had chicken on them). But he was hungry, tired, and cranky as only a nine-year-old can be.

"Let's try this again. Instead of whining and getting mad, how about you tell me why it's so important that we go to McDonalds instead of Burger King."

"It won't matter."

"Try me. But calmly."

So he did. This was the last day to get a particular Happy Meal toy. He had all the rest from the series, but my parents hadn't had time to take him to McDonalds over the past week (a weekly ritual of theirs), so he didnt have this one.

I remember how important things like that can be. And my dinner could wait till I dropped my sister and nephew off. We went to McDonalds. But if he hadn't been able to explain in less than five minutes why going to McDonalds was so important to him, we wouldn't have.

What position of yours can you explain to an adversary in just five minutes to make a difference in your life?