spent Solution Building

How I Spend My Time Today Will Have an Effect on That

It seems there isn’t enough time to get everything done. I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly looking around for more. I think to myself, “If I just had a few more minutes, I could get this one more thing done.”

The problem with time isn’t how much there is, it’s what we spend it on.

We spend time as though it will last forever. Not so. We each have a limited amount here on earth and we need to be more intentional about how we spend it. Time isn’t like money, we can make more money, but we can’t make any more time. When it’s gone, it’s gone. We can’t ever get it back.

Are we being good stewards of the time we’ve been given?

In Max Lucado’s book, “The Eye of the Storm” he tells a story about two paddleboats leaving Memphis headed to New Orleans. “As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other.

Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race but burned their cargo. Their cargo was gone, and they couldn’t get it back.

They lost sight of their purpose along the way and in the end had wasted their trip. Don’t waste your trip by getting caught up in the unintentional rat race of life and in the end, not achieve your purpose.

To live the most productive life we need to “begin with the end in mind”. We need to look at the end of our lives, our funerals, and imagine what people will say about us. In Michael Hyatt’s blog post, “What Will They Say When You Are Dead?”, he lays out a plan for this.

It is common to race through life getting caught up in the unimportant peripheral tasks that don’t contribute directly to what our purpose is. You’ve heard it said that “time is money”. What is the real value of your time? Are you spending your time wisely?

Time is a commodity that can only be spent. You can’t add to it, only subtract.

Are you spending your time wisely?

What’s It Worth to Hire A Professional?

I was talking with my wife, who’s a realtor, earlier this week. She was telling me about an individual that had been trying to sell their house themselves and not having any luck. Reluctantly they are now considering listing their house with a realtor.

Her question was why would someone not list their house with a professional? I have thought about this same thing regarding construction for years.

The ‘Do It Yourself’ philosophy has become an industry on its own. This is not to say that doing things yourself is all bad.

The question should be about value, not about dollars.

To hire or not, is the question. I’m pretty capable with a wide range of skills, but there are some things that are just better done by professionals. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer not to do my own surgery or fill my own cavity.

The number one reason that most people don’t hire a professional is the cost. When the purchase or project is in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars the professional fee is big. Is the money saved by not hiring the professional really a savings? The actual cost in dollars, time and heartache may be a lot more in the end.

The value of hiring a professional can go well beyond the dollars spent.

Their experience and knowledge can give you a huge head start. They can help lead you through the process by asking questions you hadn’t even thought of. All of this can make the process more efficient and enjoyable.

They have been through the pitfalls and can help you avoid them. It breaks my heart the number of times that I have been asked to come finish a project that someone started and then realized they were in over their head.

There is a process to everything and construction is no different. If you do things in the wrong order the eventual cost is often more than the professional fees. If the walls are sheetrocked before the electrical wiring is ran it isn’t going to turn out well.

Doing all the different things a good professional does takes a lot of time. If you plan to do them and do them well, you need to plan to spend the time. As is the case with most things, looking at something from the outside it looks easier and quicker than it really is. What is your time worth?

Once you’ve decided to hire a professional keep in mind that not all of them are created equal. You need to give some consideration to the hiring process and find the right builder for you. In some situations professional may not be the best term when describing some builders. The wrong builder can be as much of an issue as not having one at all. What is the cost of cheap? Good communication with fixed pricing are both crucial to a good professional experience.

The important thing is for you to give some thought to the question of hiring a professional before moving forward and then regretting it later. In Proverbs 19:2 it says, “Being excited about something is not enough. You must also know what you are doing. Don’t rush into something, or you might do it wrong.”, ERV.

What Will People Say About Me at My Funeral?