Quit Complaining And Enjoy The Process

Lately we’ve been working like crazy to finish a bathroom remodel at our house.  We contracted out the plumbing and tile work but I kept the drywalling all to myself.  Cutting the drywall, putting it up and screwing it in is easy enough.  The next step is to apply the joint compound to make it look like one beautiful wall.  In keeping with the tradition of our house, my task has been to have perfectly smooth walls.

Early on, I found that as I applied coats of joint compound, I went through a few buckets very quickly.  I then began to complain loudly because my walls didn’t look very smooth.  I even went so far as to call a contractor in desperation to see what it would cost to have an expert come bail me out.

All the while I have continued to apply coats, sand, apply more and repeat.  By the time you get to your second or third coats, it’s just a matter of filling in little divots here and there and the walls begin to look pretty darn amazing.

It’s at this stage in the process where I look back and wish hadn’t spent so much time complaining during the stages that led up to this point.  You can actually be a little bit reckless with your application of the joint compound as long as you have time and plenty of sand paper.

We’re only sort of talking about drywalling at this point.  Replace that with just about any project or process and you see what I mean.  It’s so easy to picture the end result in our heads and start complaining when we can’t accept that there are a bunch of little steps that lead up to the finished product.

Here’s to enjoying the process a little bit more and complaining a little bit less.  I know my wife is grateful that I’ve had this realization.

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