There’s a graduation in our house this week, so please bear with me if my blog post here has come down a few levels from the lofty topics that I enjoy writing about. 

Our youngest son wraps up his high school career and like many families across the country, we are holding an open house for friends and neighbors to celebrate the event. 

And like many husbands in similar situations across the country, I’m in charge of finishing up those chores that I put off all winter while I was writing Leadership and the Project Manager or teaching or delivering workshops or talking about performance excellence to industry groups.

Today’s chore is to paint the kitchen ceiling. 

Joy.

Many of my colleagues have chastised me for not doing a better job valuing my time and hiring out these types of tasks.  They are right on the value.  It does not pay for me to paint my ceiling when I could be doing something of a client-service nature (translation: revenue generating activities). 

Nonetheless, there is something cathartic about shifting gears, getting out of my chair and tackling a project as nefarious and diabolically difficult (to me) as doing a good job on a kitchen ceiling. 

Additionally, I come from a long-line of do-it yourself types and it is tough to fight all of the genetic and environmental conditioning that require me to grab the tools when there is work to be done.  I’m working on it, but I’m not cured yet. 

Doing a quality job on the ceiling takes total concentration, a focus on detail (the edging along the wall) and well-honed technique to ensure good coverage without lines and runs.  Add in paint with an eggshell finish because of the kitchen environment, and for me, this is no small task.  Ironically, the painting is the easiest part of the job, yet it is the preparation that ensures a great outcome.  

Like almost every job in life and in business, a successful outcome is a function of detailed preparation, a good plan and painstaking attention to the issues that potentially will impact the outcome.  The patching, sanding, masking, cutting-in and thorough application of paint are all critical to the final product. Oh, and don’t forget the drop cloths to catch collateral spatter. 

In the working environment, and in our own professional lives, our focus on learning, mastering our tools and techniques and ensuring that we place all of our energy and concentration on the task at hand are difficult qualities to learn. It’s easier to take shortcuts, but shortcuts never yield the quality we truly need to succeed and excel.  We often have to learn these lessons the hard way, but the best professionals stick with it until they complete a quality job.

As my son ends up a great high school experience and heads off to college, the metaphor fits.  I’m hopeful that he has started to understand the lessons of the painter and painting.  He’ll probably have to redo a few ceilings of his own along the way, like we all do. Hopefully though, in the end, he will also paint a few masterpieces.  

Now, I’ve stalled long enough.  The roller awaits!