Literacy

Knowledge is one thing, but being able to apply what you know to everyday life challenges is a better definition of being literate in a subject.  This is why standardized testing is such a poor indicator of how well our educational system is working.  More than knowing how to read a book or complete a math worksheet, being literate in reading and math could mean being able to understand a technical manual, or adjust a recipe to feed the whole scout troop.

Quality

It’s easier to build a quality product if you don’t try to do it halfway.

A coworker pointed this out while we were remodeling.  He said “You’ll never get that sheetrock to match if you only replace what HAS to be replaced.  Tear it all off, back to the corner, and replace it.  Then when you finish and paint the wall, it will look like it’s always been part of the whole.”

I’m still learning this, but it seems to hold most of the time.  In a remodeling project, it is easier to do all of the tear-out first, then rebuild from the structure outward.  That’s how they do it on all those HGTV shows, and it looks pretty easy for them, right?

Like most of the posts on my site, I think this wisdom holds true across other facets of life, bad habits, relationships, education, and of course, plumbing!

Making a mess

In order to create something really worthwhile, you’ve usually got to make a mess first.