Built Right, Still Wrong…
At home these last few weeks, Monic has been on another mission, painting and decorating.
At times the house has been upside down and, on a few occasions, I’ve been enlisted to help.
It may have been to move a bed, lift a rug, order something online, build some flat pack furniture, pick up something from a shop etc.
Monic’s work ethic is amazing and when she gets started, you simply need to get out of the way.
It got me thinking about a few things – especially when it came to flat pack self-assembly furniture this week.
I ordered the items online, picked them up from the store and duly started to put the bedside cabinet together.
It wasn’t too difficult and within an hour the first was completed.
Having built one, the second was easier and within half an hour, the last thing I needed to do was put the drawer in.
But alas, for some reason, it wouldn’t fit!?
Cue that familiar DIY moment: denial, frustration, blame.
Was it me? Did I mess something up?
Stumped, I took a closer look.
The drawer rail pre-installed by the manufacturer was the wrong one.
I couldn’t do a thing.
I called on Monic to check it wasn’t just me seeing something wrongly…
She confirmed that no tool could fix that.
The Life Lesson
And that’s when it clicked, this was a real-world lesson in control.
– I had 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 control when I laid out the parts and followed the instructions.
– I had 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 control when I checked my work and asked for a second opinion.
– But with the faulty rail? I had 𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒐 control. All I could do was adapt. Accept. Return it and reorder.
On reflection – I followed the instruction manual with exactness, step by step.
But the part was wrong from the start.
There was nothing I could do to fix it.
Sometimes, even when you do everything right, things still won’t work—because the problem was built in from the start.
The real test is how you respond when the plan fails.
Are you solving problems—or just following instructions?
