Order out of Chaos

Recently I have had occasion to tell people what my forte is.  My usual response has been "to bring order out of chaos."  I like to dive into a mess and fix it.  I'll admit, I'm conflicted.  Sometimes I see an old house and I am attracted to the rustic look it has...but then I think about trimming the bushes, fixing the roof and...doing a major remodel on the house!

Most chaos wasn't created in a day and it can't be fixed in a day.  It takes perseverance.  It takes a thick skin.  And it takes a vision that you are working towards even when it isn't taking shape as quickly as you would like.  It's like someone said, "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time."

I have been accused of being passionate.  It's what drives my intensity.  I see what something can be.  I see the potential of a project, a company, a person and I go at the situation with an intense passion to see it become all that it can be. 

It takes a lot of energy to see chaos become organization.  It's a principle of physics.  If something isn't moving it takes a lot of effort to get it moving.  If it is moving but in the wrong direction it can't be turned around with just a flip of the steering wheel. 

Usually, I am working alone at first.  Others don't understand my goal or have tried something similar to what I am trying and been turned away.  They've gotten discouraged.  I have to plow through their discouragement and comments such as "I've been here 16 1/2 years and that hasn't changed yet."  The positive side of that comment is that they need to be shown that it can be done and they will join you in partnership.

I get discouraged when I don't see things happening quite as fast as I would like.  But as I grow older I have realized that if I keep my nose to the grindstone I can get things moving in the right direction.

Our house in OH is an example.  When we bought it it was a wreck.  It hadn't been painted in years.  The yard was a mess.  Things were dirty.  But slowly over the 15 years we lived there we saw things transformed.  It took a lot of sweat and some blood (every time I nicked myself while doing a project).  One project became two and two became four and it was amazing how slowly but surely the things we envisioned came to pass.  I still had a few things I would have done to the property if I still owned it.

Sometimes you have to start small to get things in order.  If you try to tackle too much you'll get discouraged.  It's like an artist.  They usually do some studies of what they are going to eventually create.  They do a rough sketch...or several.  The idea is to continually refine things until you achieve what you are looking for.

I also have a thing about doing things right when I do them.  I'd rather finish an aspect of a project completely and be done with it than to do a temporary fix that may come back to haunt me.  Unfortunately, that has cost me a lot of bigger projects than I started out with as anyone who has done remodeling can attest.

In order to get others on board with what you are doing you have to show them some small victories.  The small victories eventually add up to a major battle won.  The excitement of seeing something get done that has been longed for for so long gets others on board.

One of the things I've had to learn to live with is how quickly the chaos can return.  We've remodeled several houses over the years.  They haven't always been bought by someone who maintained what we had developed.  The same in true in businesses where I have worked.  Sometimes it falls back into the same rut it was in before unless there is someone there to carry the vision forward.  My yard attests to that this year.  I didn't fertilize it this year because I couldn't afford it.  Now I have to get rid of a lot of crab grass (hard work) and replant, then fertilize and maintain or I'll have to redo the whole yard some day.

My encouragement to you is that if you stick with a project (even with varying degrees of intensity), show others the results and gain their support you'll eventually see the chaos replaced with order.  I hope this helps you get your New Year started with hope.