Apply effort in the RIGHT place and you cannot fail...

This past week was a challenge for me. I was asked to put up four Finnish guests in my unfinished house. The builders said it would be ok, they could easily get the inside walls painted and the the floors varnished by the time the guests arrived. But as the date drew closer, it became clear that the builders were overly optimistic. The inside of the house was still a building site! How could I re-house 4 people at short notice?

I was feeling stressed and a bit overwhelmed with my task. The weekend before they were to arrive it dawned on me - just clear out the back extension (which was currently full of my loft contents) and bed them on two sofa's and two futons. I don't know how I cleared the space - but somehow I managed to create a sleeping area, a dining space and some kitchen area so they could have hot drinks and light foods. The only other remaining matter was the bathroom which I cleaned after the builders left. AND, the builders chose to work outside the following day so that I wouldn't have to re-clean it when they went home.

I observed a few things about myself and others in this scene. Firstly, I was stressing a lot. But when I found a workable solution, the stress melted away and everything became easy. Secondly, when you're thoughtful and respectful of others, you get loads of cooperation. Never did I try to force the builders to stick to their estimates (I'd rather they did the job properly than rush anyway!). Instead I kept them informed, thanked them for their help, and checked with them about any changes. As a result, they worked late to make up for missed hours, worked outside while the guests were in residence and co-operated in so many other ways. Thirdly, instead of trying to make an unworkable solution work, I applied my efforts to finding a workable solution.

This is very different to how I would have operated in the past. I would have been demanding and stressed and made life miserable for as many people as possible. But this new method made everything seem easy and the guests had a nice visit.

Sometimes we get so caught up in making unworkable things work that we don't consider the alternatives. This is when we need to apply effort to come out of the situation, observe it, and make informed choices instead of emotional ones.