By: Detri L McGhee, CLU, ChFC, B.Min
A tsunami of inspiration crashed upon me, and I decided to repaint my kitchen cabinets. Oh, that would look so much better! Luckily, I had purchased a second can of special colored paint and kept it all these years, wanting to be careful that I could match it exactly when the time came. It had been sitting dormant for several years, so I hoped it was still good.
I expected Emperor Green! Deep, dark and distinctive. Imagine my surprise when I opened the can and a bright, beautiful Royal Blue with emerald specks covered the lid! As I began stirring, the swirls of bold green and royal blue were quite pretty, and I was tempted to see if it would paint like that… but then I thought better. Lumps rose to the top. More stirring. Gradually it was turning more into the dark green I had expected, but after lengthy stirring, I still had lumps and uneven color. Finally, I replaced the lid carefully and took it to our local hardware store for a professional shaking. They had the proper equipment, and knew the proper time needed to get the job done right. And they would not even let me pay them. Friends! I love friends!!!
Once home, I opened the lid and went right to work. The lumps were completely gone. The color was smooth, vibrant, consistent, and easy to apply.
I personally believe that every scenario, every story, every situation has multiple lessons we can learn. A few that I learned from my kitchen painting adventure are:
- When you open something up, you might get a surprise.
- What you think you want and have might not look like what you need at first glance. Then, after time and work, you may find yourself with exactly what you really wanted. (Marriage and jobs have interesting applications here!)
- Sometimes professional help is needed to accomplish what you desire in order to complete the task with excellence.
- Most projects are a lot more work than you think they will be when only in your dreams. This really has applications when you think other people have easy, cushy, fun jobs and in reality, you have little true knowledge of what they are dealing with.
- Sometimes when you start a project, you find you must add to the work to get best results: Like cleaning, painting and papering the inside of the cabinets, too. (sigh…)
- Along the way (while stirring) you may be tempted to change plans (like paint with swirly, lumpy but lovely paint). However, consider everything before making changes that have not been carefully thought through. You may end up with unexpected problems if you act too quickly.
- Holding on to the vision of the anticipated successful conclusion of a project can give strength to endure the slow, tiring, sometimes messy grind of getting it done.
- Plan ahead on how you will clean up the messes made during the construction process.
- Thinking you would like something, then doubting/wondering if you can do it yourself, THEN deciding that, “Yes! I can do that!” is a good feeling. But plowing through the process and coming out the other side with the job well done (though not perfect) is empowering, exciting and such a great feeling of accomplishment. I DID IT!
- Keeping my focus on taking care of MY BUSINESS and letting others take care of theirs keeps me from a plethora of mistakes and misspeaks.
THIS is an example of applying EI (Emotional Intelligence) to everyday life. Thinking. Planning. Preparing. Thinking more. Assembling the needed items. Starting. Staying focused. Cleaning up after spills and splatters. Refusing to let problems stop us. Dealing with delays and discouragement and side issues. Pausing when needed or necessary. Finishing the job, even if it wasn’t perfect, took longer, and was harder than expected, and someone else could probably have done it better… I DID IT!
WHAT is it you want? What do you NEED to do? What is REQUIRED of you to be/become the best you possible? WHO are you? WHERE do you need professional help/advice? WHO/WHAT controls you? HOW will you meet your desires: With fear or Faith? With wishes or plans? With an attitude of confidence, or with doubt and complaints? We all have so many choices to make every day. Yesterday is gone. It is too late to do what you should have done then but didn’t. Today you may be given another chance. Are you preparing your mind and body and spirit to DO THAT NEXT BEST THING if you are blessed with another opportunity?
Detri would love to hear from you. Email: detrimcghee@gmail.com Facebook: Detri Atkinson McGhee. Free outline for Criticism Management available at www.criticismmanagement.com
By: Detri L. McGhee – CLU, ChFC, B.Min
