Just Give Him A Number

 After 37 years of marriage I may have found the key to my husband's motivation.  All he needs is a goal.  I've always known he was competitive, sometimes to a fault.  What I have recently discovered is that if I want him to do something all I need to do is put a number in front him.  Like a sales goal.... sell 4 million widgets, reach your goal and get that bonus.  Yes, this explains why he is such a good salesman, he finds his dangling carrot and pursues it until he reaches his goal.  Every salesman has certain goals, concretely defined, to which he aspires every year.  Reach that goal and you are rewarded.  Simple formula... goal, work, reward.  Sometimes it isn't really work.  Like when it comes to drinking beer or eating at restaurants.

Drink 200 beers, get a plate on the wall...done.

His latest pursuit is to eat at all of the top 100 restaurants in Houston.  It is a worthy pursuit.  There is a finite number of choices and the reward is obvious, delicious food, presumably.  This is a goal I can support.  It is so much better than accompanying him while he drank 200 different beers at the same fine pub.  For a girl who doesn't really drink beer this goal left me longing for a proper wine bar!  But, food and restaurants.... you are talking my language!  The list covers all the bases.  There are high end fancy places, food trucks, new trendy places, pizza places, Vietnamese places, home cooking places, you name it...it's on there.  Even BBQ, much to my dismay.  I am OK with him trying some of the 100 without me!

One place I might have missed without "the list"
and missing this place would have been sad!  Great place!

This quest began with an insert to our newspaper many months ago, "The Top 100 Restaurants in Houston".  The dangling carrot!  We enjoy eating out but find ourselves going to the same nearby places over and over.  To quote my friend Barbara, "We need to get out of the cul-de-sac!".  Every once in a while it's nice to explore your own city, especially if it is the 4th largest in the country.  We did this when we lived in Toronto and enjoyed being tourists in our own city.  Why not do it in Houston?  There are lots of places we haven't tried yet.  We have found some definite winners, others that for whatever reason were not as impressive as advertised but no real losers yet.  We have gotten out of the neighborhood and that's a good thing.  Of course, after we finish with the 100 restaurants we may need to have a new goal.  First person to lose the 10 extra pounds we gained eating at the top 100 restaurants.

Last weekend's excursion lead us here.  We both agree,
we will be back!

It was at this very table I came to a realization, 37 years in the making.  TJ needs a goal or he just isn't going to do "it",  whatever "it" may be.....eating out, riding a bike, drinking beer, selling locomotives or chemicals or services, planting a garden, playing golf, swimming... just to name a few.  Give him a number to reach and watch him go.  So from now on I'm taking a different approach around here.  First person to cook 50 meals, first person to do 20 loads of laundry, first person to walk the dog 30 times will be rewarded,   Think it will work?   Me neither!