Reno resolutions for the new year: Know your limitations Bob Weinstein
If you haven’t made your DIY resolutions for the new year, this is the time to do it. I do it every year, and try as best as I can to stick to my resolutions. Each year, I fail.
At the beginning of the new year, I take a hard look at many of the projects of the prior year and make evaluations based upon questions, the answers revealing how well I fared. Here they are:
Do I know my limitations? I once thought only newbies ought to be aware of this DIY commandment. The thinking is there is no project that is too difficult if I work hard, and give it everything I’ve got. It sounds like an anthem, a do-or-die proclamation pulled from the Holy Scriptures. The reality is all the good intentions and focused energy in the world isn’t going to teach you what you don’t know and have to learn. And many DIY skills are learned over time with considerable practice and lots of experience. While I consider myself an experienced DIYER with advanced skills in many areas, there is a great deal I have to learn. I venture to say all experienced Diyers will echo my thoughts. It’s the old cliché, the more I do and learn the more I realize how much more I have to learn. A little humility goes a long way.
Under that umbrella commandment I asked myself the following questions:
Were most projects successful? I define success as achieving project goals. For the most part, I’d say yes. That said, looking back, there were about a dozen small projects I rushed because I thought they were easy. Because I didn’t give each one enough time, on completion I realized I wasn’t as thorough as I could have been. A little bit more time spent on them and they would have been perfect.
Were projects well planned? Most were, a few were not. Projects that were familiar, I tended to loosely plan. As a result I found myself losing time, because I didn’t think out every aspect of the project. Lesson: Big or small project, plan it in writing, every step so nothing is missed.
Did I use my resources well? An extension of the question above. Whether a project is big or small, the same planning methodology ought to be used. Don’t make assumptions and get cocky. I have a tendency to scrupulously plan large projects, and halfheartedly plan short, simple ones that require less effort. Hence, I often guessed or approximated resources, which wasn’t smart.
Did I work with a budget? Budgeting has always been a weak area for me. Maybe it’s because I was a terrible math student in school. Of course, that’s only a cop-out. The only math needed for most projects is simple arithmetic, knowing how to add and subtract. More often than not it involves spending time carefully measuring the dimensions of a project, whether installing cabinets, doors or windows that will fit perfectly in a wall or structure. You’ll find out the importance of meticulous measuring when you fail to measure correctly. The result is wasted resources and money.