Reflecting

It's New Year's Day today. As we all say each year, “Oh where has it gone?”

My days go so fast I will be saying this again before I know it. I do try to slow things down when I can. It is just so hard. My weeks are more 70-80 hours long then I would like to admit. The Artist just told me she heard someone say if you are self-employed and work more then 55 hours a week you are doing something wrong. Primarily you are not delegating enough.

Yep, that’s the key, delegate more ...

It’s not that I don’t try, but it is hard to do. A lot of people just don’t want that responsibility. When I delegate, I put a lot of pressure on those I delegate to. I expect them to be me. To see what I see, to see what can’t be seen yet and still see enough to avoid potential future problems. 

As the General on the job, it is my responsibility to get the job, run the job, be on top of it all– pricing, pricing subs, material delivery, scheduling, knowing what every sub is doing, keeping the crew busy, attempting to plan next week based on what the weather guys are saying it will be this week, counting on material/subs to be on time, needing my guys to know what efficient work practices are, interacting with the customer, interacting with the customer, interacting with the customer, oops got carried away there. And it is my job to be the expert in all these areas.

That’s just part of it. No wonder the weeks hit 80 hours before you know it. Its so funny how the general idea of contractors is they have alot of free time!

So if you find me somewhat frazzled at times, somewhat moody, maybe you are getting me right off a night of work that kept me up all night. Don’t worry I will be back on my game in no time. In the meantime, if you are my sub, just do what you said you'd do, if you are my employee, step it up wherever you can, if you are my dog, don’t worry, the walks will always be there.

I have talked of letting go before, and now again. I am letting go, I’m just waiting to see who it is that will be stepping up to really help me make a difference in this business and who will help it get back to a normal 55 hour week. Hey, I will even take 60!

Working on figuring it all out this new year, that is my resolution.

~ The Carpenter