The thing is, I love it more than I hate it

So, last week I completed my second move to Manhattan.  The first one was last month, with lots of stuff but no dogs.  This time, I drove by myself from Ohio to NYC with my two dogs and a mini-SUV full of more stuff.  It started with a positive energy when I took off at 4am, but turned into one of those days, as one of my colleagues at ifridge & Company describes, where “the city got the better of me”.  I finally understood what she meant by that expression.

After the long day, I started to question (again) why I moved here.  Manhattan seriously was the last place I’d ever consider moving; I call it “Crazy Town”.  I’ve realized my experiences here have fit into either the “I Love It” or the “I Hate It” category (and hardly ever mundane).  To me, it is a city of extremes, as others have noted before.  Being analytical and with a love for tables, I thought I would assess things that happened to me (mostly that day) along these two extreme criteria.  

If I look at these lists, even though they appear to be pretty equal, I have to admit that I already love it more than I hate it.   And to some degree, that is all that matters, because the love is pretty awesome.  And the “hate it” ones are irritating enough to make you realize you’ve worked hard to earn the “love it” ones.  Not a bad thing.

So, I started to think about this “love it more than I hate it” conclusion in other contexts, such as how a business presents itself to its customers or makes decisions, because frankly I needed the distraction from the chaotic day.  Are there any products or businesses or events that you love more than you hate, and that are therefore strangely appealing?  Does the hate make you feel like you’ve worked hard to earn the love? 

So, the iPhone is a pretty good, useful device (ok, I admit I sleep with it now because at any moment of insomnia I can check Facebook).  BUT THE BATTERY CAN’T BE REPLACED AND DOESN’T LAST LONG ENOUGH!  This is outrageous!  But I still carry on though, suffering, and justify it maybe by the fact that the device is so useful that must be why I keep draining the battery (by noon).  Oh, and btw, Apple, THAT VIRTUAL KEYBOARD DRIVES ME NUTS BECAUSE THE BACKSPACE KEY PLACEMENT CAUSES ME TO DELETE MY TYPING EVERY TIME A WORD HAS AN “M” IN IT!  I surely love it, but I also hate it!

Think about a training course you might take.  Is the training more memorable if the course has elements of extremes, of big surprise and delight as well as frustration?  Definitely.  If the training is just a by-the-book good delivery, do you forget everything on the plane ride home? 

The fact is too that most business decisions have love and hate elements, more often referred to less interestingly as “pros” and “cons”.  A decision can be a great one even if it has ramifications that aren’t so good.  The keys are to make the pros (the love) outweigh as much as possible the cons (the hate), and to make the cons as least impactful as possible.

Do you have other examples where this combination of love and hate just works or is necessary?  Where the polar extremes are the way to go, versus just being ordinary and middle-of-the-road?  Where a
business decision needed to be made even though it had its love and hate results?  Boy, you might even have a personal relationship with these extremes – is it worth it?

(Oh, and I was telling a new friend about this post and he said he once had to lay in the street in NYC so he wasn’t shot during a gang fight.  Hmm, my “hate it” issues are pretty pathetic.  Okay, New York, I love you even more.)