The guy who doesn’t flush.

I went for a meeting the other day in a posh office block. During a break I went to the rest room and what greeted me was awful. I quickly rushed to another rest room. I then wondered why people who seemed classy and worked in big companies and drive big cars would not even flush a toilet.

So I did some research on Google University to understand why some people don’t flush after using a toilet. Google returned 16.9 million results! Some say it is upbringing. Others say they fear touching germs. For others it is cultural reasons. Some psychologists argue that it’s a sign of rebellion against authority. Some do it because they simply don’t care. Many say that it is simply poor habits.

I suppose the guy who doesn’t flush doesn’t do it out of spite for fellow human beings. He is simply conditioned not to flush. So it doesn’t occur to him that he should leave the toilet in a clean state for the next user.

Some of us don’t flush in other areas of life. We spend without concern for tomorrow. We borrow up to our eye balls. We gamble with our life time earnings. We miss opportunities before us. We are simply not conditioned to act in a certain way to optimize our potential.

Luckily all habits can be built through simple awareness and repetition. So if you struggle with flushing toilets simply start flushing the next time you visit a rest room. And don’t forget to wash your hands after.