Napoleon would wait 3 weeks before opening any mail
Summary
- Apparently, Napoleon instructed his secretary to wait 3 weeks before opening any mail. When it was finally opened, the majority of the issues had been resolved.
Details
- The lesson is that we have to be selective about what we allow into our brain. The majority of issues do not require an instant response.
References
Quotes
As a general, Napoleon made it his habit to delay responding to the mail. His secretary was instructed to wait three weeks before opening any correspondence. When he finally did hear what was in a letter, Napoleon loved to note how many supposedly “important” issues had simply resolved themselves and no longer required a reply.
While Napoleon was certainly an eccentric leader, he was never negligent in his duties or out of touch with his government or his soldiers. But in order to be active and aware of what actually mattered, he had to be selective about who and what kind of information got access to his brain.
In a similar vein, he told messengers never to wake him with
good news. Bad news, on the other hand—that is to say, an unfolding crisis or an urgent development that negatively impacted his campaign—was to be brought to him immediately. “Rouse me instantly,” he said, “for then there is not a moment to be lost.”