You are building your life.
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Everything that you do matter, even if you think it doesn’t matter… it does. Do you best each and every day - No Matter What!
Building Your House
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.
When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, “This is your house… my gift to you.”
The carpenter was shocked!
What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.
So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.
But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your attitude, and the choices you make today, helps build the “house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, build wisely!
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Someone told me this story few days ago, isn’t it just how people react these days? Even us, might do the same thing, figuring ‘what do I care?I’m leaving anyway.’ The truth is, we need to play our role well, until the very last minute.
Live everyday as your last. That’s what I’ve been trying to remind myself everyday.
Take care.
It’s a good example .. we never know who or what we’re building for - we may think we do .. but surprises can arise. It’s important to keep our standards up regardless of what we’re doing .. our work, our chores, the way we conduct ourselves etc etc
Thanks Gio - Hilary: Be Positive Be Happy
Hi Giovanna,
This story really drives home the point of what we’re doing everyday, even if it doesn’t seem like it’s for ourselves, in some way it is. And what kind of ‘life house’ do we want to live in? Great story!!
This is so true of life. I had an employee who left awhile back and in his last week his performance slipped so bad that as far as I was concerned it wiped off all the good work he had done in the past. There is no way I would give him a good recommendation. As for the carpenter, his final work should have been his best for that is how he will be remembered.
Say Giovanna, I hope you like playing tag, because you are IT
I really like the “life is a do-it-yourself project” metaphor. It reminds me to keep building good enough for now, and try not to paint myself in a corner.
Wow that must have been a shocker.
I guess it shows you that no matter if you hate your job or not, you still gotta do it and if you want to go anywhere in life, you gotta give it your all.
I learned this recently at my job, I hated it for months and that was not doing any good for me because my reference and performance sucked so really how would that make me look if I applied for another job.
It is funny to see how a lot of my co workers complain about what the boss asks us to do, I mean did they forget that they were hired to do the job correctly, yet they cant even do that and complain?
This is a great story. I feel it’s more about responsibility. Taking Responsibility for your actions, and your life. You DECIDE!
@Robert
Human nature 101, why should someone feel responsible? Naturally we are all lazy unless we have an underlying reason to do something otherwise.
What do you think?
Wow, that’s great
Can you Imagine what houses we would live in if they were build it the way most people build their lives
Nothing matters if you are not fulfilled
This is a great story and never gets old. This is a great lesson, thanks for sharing.
Giovanna, this reminder is never outdated! It’s timely for me, today, because I don’t have the pep I had yesterday. That’s precisely when I get lazy and coast. But coasting won’t bring me what I want. Thank you!
~ Julie
Hi Ching Ya
So true, we all have to play our A game everyday no matter if it is our first day or last day.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your thoughts.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Hilary
Well said “we never know who or what we’re building for…” I like that.
Thank you for your comment and support.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Lance
LIFE HOUSE. That is a great choice of words, that would make a great title hummm…
Thank you for the that. Everything we do does matter even if we don’t know that it does.
Thanks for your comment and sharing your wisdom with us.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Thanks for this post. This has me think about some of the talks I’ve given recently to small groups of people. After I gave them I assumed that, because of the size of the group there, they’d be unlikely to have much of an impact on my business. But recently people have started coming to me as clients who say they heard about me from one of those tiny speaking engagements! I’m glad I went ahead and did the workshops anyway despite the small attendance.
Hi Sire
Great to see my friend
I know people like that, and I always say, “Don’t you want to go out on top?” Thank you for your comment and joining in the conversation.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi J.D.
You are such a wise man, “don’t paint ourselves in a corner.”
Thank you for your comment and joining in the conversation. I enjoy reading them.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Tom
It sounds like you have learn that what ever you do you have to take pride in it, because your name is attached to what you do. So if you know you are leaving your job in 2 weeks, you still have to do your best in the 2 weeks becasue your name is still attached for 2 more weeks.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your thoughts with us.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Robert
We all have to take responsibility of what we do. We get to decide who we want to be?
Thank you for your comment and support.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Peter
If we want a nice house, we are going to have to put in the work to build a nice house. Same thing go for our life, if we want to live a nice life we have to put in the work to have a nice life.
I love what you said about nothing matters if we are not fulfilled, so true.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your wisdom with us.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Mark
Thank you, for your comment and your support to our community. A good story needs to be told until everyone who needs to hear it have heard the message.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Julie
I am so glad this story came to you at the right time
You are right “coasting won’t bring you what you want.” We all have days that we are a little low on pep, that is why I am here everyday.
Thank you for your comment and joining in the conversation.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Chris
That is a great story you just shared. We have to deliever the best value in our speech or our work each and everytime, no matter how many people are there. Your story shown that it is not about how many people heard you, it is abot how well you did your message and how well your message connected with people. Sometime One great connection is all it took.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your story.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Giovanna!
This story just made it to me. Good one! Good one! It actually distantly reminds me mini-retirements Tim Ferriss mention in his book. Live now!
Very good story!
My only regret Giovanna is that I don’t come by here often enough, but now that I have subscribed to you I will try to make more time to drop by for a chat.
Hi Alik
I am glad to see you happy with this story. It is a great one.
We are building our “life house” as Lance called it. So make it a nice house
Thank you for your comment and sharing your thoughts with us.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
i carry an attitude in life that ‘today is sweeter then the day before’ from an old 60’s song. Each day we enjoy a price we pay for that day. We need to be sure that its postive not negative-good not evil-productive not wasted so that we don’t pay a price for that day but we enjoyed the price we paid for that day.
Its a great one Giovanna-thanks again
Hi Sire
Thank you for subscribing. I knew when we first connected, that we will be around in each other’s world :-). Come by as often as you like, you are always welcome.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi John
I am going to have to look up the song “today is sweeter then the day before”. Words of the wise - pay the price for that day… very nice.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your wisdom with us.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
This story always inspires, Giovanna. Each day we are building our lives with our thoughts. I wonder what my ‘house’ will look like at the end of my life!
Hi Daphne
Your house will be filled with love, peace and integrity. It is be a lovely and comfortable full of zen
Thank you for your comment and support.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Beautiful metaphor.
Hi Stephen
Thank you for your comment and support.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Giovanna It Is So True… What and How We Build Our Lives Will Be Looked On By The Generations That Follow. If We Do It Poorly It Will Not Be Remembered and Will Blow Away When Tested but If We Build It Right We Will Leave A Legacy That Will Endure!
Thanks Giovanna!
Emmanuel Farnese
Hi Emmanuel
I agree with you, “If we build it right we will legacy…”
Thank you for your comment and sharing your wisdom with us.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Hi Gio,
What a fabulous story! It is very inspirational! We should always do our best, since we are building our own house.
Thanks for the post!
Peter Baca
The Car Enthusiast Online
Hi Pete
We have to build our life with care we will be in it for our whole life.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your thoughts.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
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I’m so glad I found my way here… Your post is very inspiring! Thank you for sharing!