Complete fail

So, there was this plan for today and due to something that I failed to do, that thing cannot happen today.

See, for the past few years we have been pretty negligent in the overall upkeep of our home. Internally we have done most of the day to day cleaning one would expect. But the long term type of stuff has been put off inside the house and except for cutting the grass shortly before the city decides to fine us, most of the outside of our home has been ignored.

As part of our plan to live in excellence and improve every area of our lives we decided that this could not continue. We got together, sat down and wrote up a list of the thing that needed doing, room by room inside and area by area on the outside of the house. The list is several pages long.

One of the items on that list was pressure cleaning the outside of our house. Due to vegetation that had grown up right next to the house in a  bunch of areas and deteriorating lawn furniture the bottom two feet or so of most of the front of our house is a greenish black color, which by the way, doesn't go very well with the exterior paint color of our home. The plants and furniture are gone but the greenish black color remains.

What was supposed to happen today is, I was supposed to get up early go out to Home Depot, rent a pressure cleaner and then another roommate, one who has some experience in such matters, was going to use said device to pressure clean the outside of our house. What actually happened is, I failed to set my alarm and woke up way too late to get the required tool to clean our house today.

 If I were still the same person I was twenty years ago, or if I were like many people still are today, I would be beating myself up over this mistake. There would be stress, angst and frustration over how I screwed up such a simple task. My self worth would take a hit. I would probably avoid my roommate so I could avoid dealing with or in fact even admitting that I had broken an agreement. My day would effectively be ruined due to a simple dumb mistake. I would carry around all that negative energy without even realizing it and it would color other interactions that I have with people for at least today and maybe even longer.

But none of that would be useful or productive and it would only serve to lower the quality of my life. And THAT is unacceptable. So unless you want many of those same things in your life, I suggest and request for your own sake that you learn from my example. Instead of  beating yourself up over every single thing that you do wrong or that you forget to do, do what I do, and what I did in this case.

There was a light tapping at my door. I had been asleep. It instantly woke me. People don't normally knock on my bedroom door. So, I spent a moment going over all the things that were supposed to happen today. When I recalled the pressure cleaning that was supposed to happen today a loud expletive escaped my lips and I instantly knew what my course of action was going to be.

I put some clothing on and went out to talk to my roommate. I immediately admitted my broken agreement and took full responsibility for it. I apologized for the mistake and announced my intent to recommit. We renegotiated the plan to be exactly the same, just tomorrow instead of today.

I acknowledged the broken agreement, apologized for the inconvenience and set an expectation for what my future intentions regarding the agreement are. As long as the other party isn't determined to hold a grudge, this makes even complete failures turn into a win-win situation for all involved. And isn't that what we all really want? To be happy and relaxed and enjoy life.