This morning didn’t start out too well.

Small paint brush in hand, laboring unsuccessfully to keep paint on the wood and off the hardware of the window, I could feel frustration build.

The simple solution would have been to paint the wood before the hardware was mounted. That would have produced the cleanest effect and been so much easier! However, the window was constructed somewhere else and they are in the business of building windows, not painting them.

Another, similar experience came to mind. A supporting piece of 4×4 lumber had to be replaced on the porch due to dry rot. Old one came out, new one went in.

Again, paint brush in hand, I could feel the frustration rise as I tried to get paint on exposed but hard to reach places. Again, it would have been so much easier to paint the 4×4 before it went in!

This time the culprit wasn’t distance, it was lack of communication and focus on the short-term. The installer wanted it done ASAP. Whatever happened after his part was complete was irrelevant to him. My job painting took twice as long and more difficult because of this.

Moral of the story: When talking about simplifying, we are usually thinking about how to simplify our own life. In the course of your own day, how can simplifying for yourself also simplify for another?

In the 4×4 replacement example, this could have been done with planning and communication. His work spanned a couple of days. He could have let me know that he’d have the 4×4 available for painting on Monday and that he’d install it late Tuesday. No hang up for him, much easier for me.

(Looks like it’s time for me to follow my own advice and delegate!)