I have had a lot of projects on my plate of of late. In fact these projects have eaten up more of my year than I planned. LOL. Is that not how it always goes? I was warned to plan on more time but never thought it would have lasted most of this year. I started renovations in February this year and got done about the end of August. It is fun to be able to create and watch come to life what you have built and created in your head. Manifestation. One lesson I learned though all of this, is the importance of knowing your tools. Having the right and quality tools to do the job. Also, knowing how your tools perform and how they work.

Projects, though fun but exhausting at the same time by having too much on my plate, my summer was eaten up and my kids entertained themselves with electronics way too much :/ What ends up happening is the “snowball” effect. Once you change something it leads to another and another and another! I wanted to get to the space of being able to “enjoy the fruits of my labors”. Seasons come and go, so I let the kids have way too much game time. I learned a lot of lessons along the way, and one of them being this.

 

Knowing Your Tools

What I realized is that if you do not have the right tools:

  1. The job can not get done right or you loose quality.
  2.  It will take you much longer than needed and your time is eaten up.
  3. You will have to put a lot more energy and sweat into the project than needed.
  4. No fun is had in the project and you end up hating the “skill” because it ended up being too hard.

Let me give some examples from some of the projects I have learned this lesson over and over with:

Painting

I wanted to create something authentic and mine for my space. Not only did this save me money versus buying a large painting for several hundred dollars. I wanted to add character and something that was personal to me. I had tried painting once a year ago and it was fun so I wanted to try it again. What I learned was: I knew the outcome I wanted, I have the paint brushes but I did not know which brush would give me the outcome I was trying to achieve?!

I had to try each one and learn by trail and error. This definitely increased my time and frustration of having to do it over and over. Learning how to blend the colors to get the shade I needed, you have to know your colors. And then there was the layering- knowing which section or layer to work on first so things did not get “covered” up that you wanted to see. Here is the first and then second try- dont laugh!

I did not know my tools, and I needed the right tool to get the outcome I wanted. It took a while to learn which tool I needed. This sunflower one was a personal message given to me, and I wanted it to remind me of that message each time I saw it in my kitchen.

Wood Cutting

Next was the painting in my living room. This one had more pressure behind it because it is what brings all the colors together and the first thing you see. I learned that just a plain rag was my best friend for this one. This one I added a frame around it to finish it off, and this is where I learned again this same lesson. My saw has a bad battery that will not hold a charge, and so I only got half way through cutting when it gave out. and then I had to finish cutting and doing all the others with a hand saw. This cut the ends rough and crooked, meaning now I had to spend the time sanding the ends.

Much more sweat and time was put into such a simple job, that could have been done super quick and easy- had I the right tools. And having done it the longer and more difficult way, I would not say I like cutting and working with wood. Would this change if I had the right tools and knew how to use them? I certainly think it would.

I had to learn this with making our coffee table as well. A coffee table brings all the furniture together and centers everything. In efforts to save me money and learn a skill I wanted to make it myself. Now I learned having the right wood makes a huge difference and I made this more difficult by buying the wrong one at first. In efforts to not waste the wood I bought another set and now had to glue them together- More work.

Now I could just hurry and finish it by nailing them together on the ends, but I knew I should miter the ends instead. This would help with quality, and strength but I did not have the tool. So I asked and paid for help. He was able to miter and put it together, as well as fix my mistakes so everything did not go to waste, and I simply white washed it.

Journaling

This came up as I was documenting what I had learned. Writing about it in a journal my pen would NOT work. Having to scribble to get the ink going and then only able to write one letter before having to do it again. Then throwing that away and the new one does the same thing. Or when your pencil keeps breaking, who would journal if they had to do this all the time?! Not me. Even if you write on a computer, if the keys are sticky or it crashes and you loose everything. Does this help you like writing? Does it make it fun? Ugh. More time wasted and unnecessary frustration. You need the right tools for this as well.

Cooking

I have realized a good set of knives makes all of the difference. When you have a good set of knives, chopping and cutting is so much easier. This means cutting down on time. Having the right size of pot for the recipe. Quality pots cut down on cleaning time, also the right size means you use less pots. Also important is knowing which knife to use for what. You have to know your tools and what each one is capable of so that you can choose the right one for the job. This cuts the frustration, time, seat  down. It is the same thing with spices. Having quality spices and ingredients makes a difference. And then knowing which spice goes with each dish makes all the difference.

Does this get the point across? This has been the lesson coming up over and over for me. And it applies to everything! We need the right tools to do the job, even in applying this in a spiritual or emotional perspective.

Applying This in an Emotional & Spiritual Capacity

You need to know how to grieve in order to make it through that process properly, if you do not know how then you go to a counselor and learn. They guide you through and share with you their knowledge and teach you the skills, share their tools with you so that you can learn how to go through grief in a healthy way. Same with addictions, time management, anger and social skills.

In our spiritual lives knowing how to cast out, or being able to manifest, learning to be in divine timing and order, pray, meditate, and heal can greatly smooth out our lives. Learning to develop these tools and then know how and when to apply them in in different circumstances is what brings that “smoothness”. I must learn the skill in order to reap the benefit, and I must have the right tool to learn that skill.

To develop the skills that I need/desire: I must have the right tools necessary, and if I do not have those tools, I need to ask for help from those that do.
Tiling The Bathroom

An example of asking for help from someone else with the tools and know how, is when I needed to tile my bathroom. I wanted to learn how to tile because I had a lot of tile I wanted to do. This saves you a lot of money but I could then do projects in the future with out help. I did not have the tools or the skill do to so, but I had a friend who did. She graciously brought her tile saw and did the whole project of my bathroom with me. She taught me tricks, and what to look for and what to do first.

Learning from another cuts down the time of the learning curve. I asked for help and someone shared their talents with me to bless my life. Is this not why talents are given? It is so fun to share and bless someones life. It helps others learn to be independent and be able to pass the skill on.

Summing it up
  1. Invest in the quality or right tools necessary for the skill.
  2. Take time to learn your tools.
  3. Ask for help from those with the right tools and the know how.
  4. The quicker way to learn is to accept help from those that already have the tools and skill.
  5. Stop when you are tired and done. Otherwise you will mess it up right before you cross the finish line. Tomorrow is another day.

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