Apologies for the lack of posts while I’ve been holidaying and moving house. I’m back! Today let’s look at the tendency that many of us have to think our way of doing something is the best. (Others have the opposite of assuming whatever they do will be wrong but more are probably in the former camp).
When the removal guys had dropped off all our stuff and we had to start unpacking, I really noticed how we each approached the task differently (the kids were wholly responsible for their own rooms).
Husband just wanted to get everything unpacked as quickly as possible and didn’t stop working or take a break.
My daughter (age 8) wanted her room to be perfect and hence took forever deciding where each item should go, folding her clothes perfectly, arranging her books in height order etc.
My son (age 10) did it as fast as possible with frequent breaks. He’d unpack a box then go and play in the street (because he now can – joy!) for a while before returning for the next box.
I was either ‘in the zone’ beavering away for a few hours at a time or doing absolutely nothing lying on the sofa.
Now you may feel that one of these is far superior to the others but actually they all had their merits and drawbacks.
Husband got through loads of boxes and is the reason why we were virtually all unpacked within a few days (hurrah). BUT at times he would put stuff in places with little thought just to ‘get them out of the way’ and hence they would later need to be moved again.
My daughter has ended up with a perfect palace of a bedroom that looks amazing and everything has a place. BUT it took her hours and she kept getting overwhelmed by how much there was to do and didn’t enjoy the day.
My son had a brilliant day and thoroughly enjoyed himself, his room is definitely good enough, and he’s completely chuffed with it. BUT it’s not as well laid out & functional as it could be.
My times of lying on the sofa, unintentionally, gave space for thinking about the best arrangement & so I didn’t have to redo anything and I now have a perfectly organised kitchen. BUT I probably only did half the boxes that my Husband did.
As you can see each approach was very different and they all had their pros and cons. And importantly they all got to an outcome that the individual was entirely happy with. And we are surrounded by this dynamic all the time in our daily lives. It might be a work colleague who seems to be inefficient in our view, or a partner who doesn’t hang the washing in the way that you would.
Sometimes it helps just to remind ourselves that there are many different approaches and perspectives to anything in life. As much as we may like to assume we know the ‘right’ way to do it, we are probably at least as much wrong as we are right. Please like / share incase it helps somebody today. X