Change Takes Time, Especially Without All the Tools Needed

Last weekend I tackled a do-it-yourself home improvement project. This was a small project and some people I know (who are do-it-yourself types) told me it was easy. Switching out new faucet fixtures for the bathroom sink. Easy.... just turn off the water, remove the old fixtures, hook up the new fixtures.

First I picked out the new fixtures at a well known home improvement type retailer. I selected something that looked similar to what was already installed - figuring this would lead to better success. I also spoke to a store employee to make sure everything I would need was in the box, including instructions!

Next I proceeded to remove the old fixtures. Not easy - simply because things were stuck in their ways - through hard water deposits mostly. Still, borrowing my teenaged son for some strength and ability to brave the spiders under the sink, after more time than I had originally planned the old fixtures were all removed and the parts saved for using to hook up the new faucet.

Problem - not all faucet fixtures are standardized and the old parts don't necessarily work with the new. Okay, trip back to the hardware store for flexible tubing to replace old copper tubes. Then, of course another trip to the hardware store for different sized flexible tubing and plumbers putty. Then, well the new drain is 1/2" shorter than the old one - so trip to the hardware store for an extension - followed by another trip to the hardware store for something called a tail piece that is what I really needed instead of the extension.

So, six hours and four trips to the hardware store later.... nice new fixtures on the bathroom sink!

I'm sure this could lead to a great business-related analogy about change and preparedness, and flexibility, and growth through doing something new. And maybe I'll write about that next time.

Coordinating Schedules

Sometimes it's easier to coordinate a huge meeting at work with people from near and far than to coordinate a lunch meeting with a close friend.

Recently, I was chatting with a friend who I see briefly at least once a week, but who I never seem to be able to get together with for lunch. She and I discussed that we "really should do lunch" and then decided we would make it happen. She gave me her open days for the next month - this was just last Friday. When I was in the office on Monday morning, I checked my calendar, found an open lunchtime that matched with one of the clear days on her calendar, booked the lunch meeting time - and gave her a call to confirm. Oops - she was not actually free that day.

Coordination mix-up? or does she just not want to meet me for lunch? Luckily my calendar was still open and on the spot we rescheduled for another day. Let's hope this one works out.

Cleaning Out Closets

I think it must be contagious because even though I am not the most meticulous of housekeepers, lately I've been cleaning out closets - not just at home, but at work, and in my mind. The closets I'm cleaning don't all look like closets. Some are email inboxes, some are piles of papers to be filed, some are stacks of books on the garage floor, some are old habits that are not doing me any good.

Last week we had new flooring installed in our home. Prior to having this done it was necessary to move the furnishings into the garage - so that there was nothing left in the rooms. This week, with fresh new flooring in place, each room is a clean slate. Looking at the garage, I've started thinking of everything that needs to be moved back into the rooms - and more importantly of everything that does not need to be moved back. At least half of the things that I had stashed in closets, drawers, filing cabinets, and various nooks and crannies don't serve a useful purpose. They are there because "sometime" we "might" use them. I have just gotten my family's permission to not move everything back into place. Instead, we will move back only the items we need or use frequently. The others will go into two piles - one to be sold or given to others and one to be tossed in the trash or recycle bins.

It has been so refreshing to only move back in those things we need or use frequently.

So, the contagion has started to spread - I cleaned off my desk at work today; I deleted emails older than 6-months from the folders I had set up to store them "in case I might need to refer to them"; I took the inbox off of my credenza so that mail cannot pile up in it. That was very refreshing too.

Now, the contagion is beginning to spread to my co-workers and staff - they were talking in the office today about "fall cleaning" and the destruction of unnecessarily stored paperwork.

And, the contagion is beginning to spread to the less tangible. As I was putting some needed and useful items back on the shelves at home my mind began to wander to all those unneeded habits and routines that do not add anything to my life. I started thinking about how much more time I would have to spend with my family, friends, and activities I used to enjoy - if I just change a few things. Fall cleaning - indeed!