I don’t profess to be an expert on many things. In fact, at this point in my life, maybe very few. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t learned some very valuable lessons along the way. Realistically, I feel that goes for a lot of us. We have a few specialties that came to us naturally, and then everything else takes a bit more effort.
That’s okay, don’t sweat it. I used to beat myself up for making mistakes- instead of learning from them. It’s natural, I suppose. But it really is how we grow. I’m a bit more level headed about it now, rolling with the punches as they come. And you know, this really applies to some of the smallest things in life – places you’d never expect.
It goes beyond your most prioritized activities – which, if you think about it, makes sense since those are more likely to use skills you’re more comfortable with. Really, we’re more likely to encounter this learning by failure thing in those moments we’re not well prepared, or just not in our field at all. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the best of it! There’s one moment that stands out to me the most – the day I got turned on to built up roofing.
I was sitting down at my desk one afternoon, getting ready to finish the last project of the day. It had already been a long day, I was certainly not the most thrilled about having to prepare something new but, whatever, I thought, I’ll get through. Well, as I’m drifting off into a daydream about how nice it would be if my project just magically appeared on the table, totally completed, a small, wet drop plopped on top of my head. Startled, I shook my head, breaking out of my daze. I looked up just in time to see another drop about to fall down onto my forehead.
Great, I thought. I hadn’t really considered giving the rain outside too much thought. Trying to figure out ending my day, just to get started on my evening workload was already enough, but now I had this to deal with? You would think since, at the time I was working in a commercial building, I could just call maintenance and be good to go. Yeah, well, for those of us that have been in those mediocre office buildings, you probably know pretty well they don’t do much good. Really, it’s like a once a month experience. I remember my manager being on the phone with maintenance on the regular over roofing issues. 
Long story short, my experience wasn’t much different. And realistically speaking there wasn’t much I could do about it – except maybe find a new office building? Yeah, even that would only delay the inevitable it would happen again. So the question became what can I do?
Learn from it. I couldn’t control what was going on, but I could control how I reacted. So, I started looking more into why I was having the problem. And not just me, but many office buildings in general. It didn’t take long to see too this wasn’t just ann office problem – they just happened to be the most likely to experience it. The real issue here was absolutely the contractor’s choice in roofing: how it was done, the quality of the materials used, how cheaply it was all plastered together. This wasn’t rocket science, nor was it some grand epiphone. But I’ll tell ya, I’m extremely grateful I took the time to look into that then.
Now, in a commercial building of my own, I made sure the roof was done right. None of that cheap work. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not made of money. No, no. It doesn’t need to be some top notch, elite artisan roofing only experience. It just needs to be done by a company that’s reliable. Consistent. Somebody that will ensure the roofing is made with quality.
It’s an investment for sure – and maybe it is something you could wait a year or so on before trying to renovate your roof. But then when those drops start seeping through, or when you don’t even realize you’ve been paying notably more to heat and cool your house because of the roof’s poor insulation – you’ll be feeling a certain kind of way. Trust me. Learn from my moment too.
Like I said, I don’t profess to be an expert on many things. I’m not an expert on roofing. But, I do like to think I have a good eye for quality work – something I think most of us have. So don’t treat yourself anyless. Really think about it. There’s no real reason to push it off. Where there’s a will – there’s a way. Treat yourself, you deserve to have a solid roof over your head.
And this goes double for business owners! I don’t think I need to tell you how bad for business it’ll be if you that rain is getting through your roof. And your poor profits don’t need a cut because you’re spending too much trying to keep the place comfortable. You’ll really appreciate looking into your roofing ahead of time. I can’t stress it enough.
And on that note, I’ll leave you all with one last piece of advice. Take it or leave it, but just remember we’re all in this together. We have to help each other out when we can, you know?
Don’t sweat it. Really, it’s not worth it. All the pressures stressing you out, or the worries you have in the back of your mind – I’m sure they’re important and about things that really matter to you. And that’s cool. But, it’s not worth your mental health. Let them take the back seat from time to time. Let yourself cool down and get some space to think about what you really want. I don’t mean to get too zen here, but it will really pay off big time. If you can keep it level like that, you’ll be in a much better place to learn from those really frustrating moments. It’s tough when they happen – I know I have a hard time keeping it together sometimes. But then I remember it’s going to turn out fine. If I calm down, learn from it and realize I can’t control life (but I can control me!) then everything just passes through so much easier. Life gets easier. Man, is that a relief. Even on something small and seemingly unimportant – like your roof.
It matters – like you!
Look into it.
