I’ve always loved “yard work,” which is what we called lawn maintenance back when I was growing up in Macon, Georgia. I find much joy and satisfaction in the immediate gratification that comes from taking a yard that needs grooming and then, a mere few hours later, having a yard that looks great.
This kind of hard work performed completely outside the office is therapeutic for me. I don’t even mind getting hot and sweaty! Unfortunately, several years ago I had to give up my yard work because of an injury. Our oldest son, who needs chores in order to earn his allowance, took over our yard-work duties. And he does a fine job!
He’s also doing a fine job for others: These days, he and a friend work together during the summers to cut other people’s yards, too.
I miss doing it myself though, and recently I decided I felt good enough to give it a go again. I got out my high-powered gas blower, my powerful gas edger and my commercial-grade lawn mower. (I’m serious about my yard work.)
I started with the lawn, which I cut to a smooth, even emerald carpet. Next, I cranked up my gas edger and adjusted the blade to the usual sweet spot to create the perfect 2½-inch-deep, 1-inch-wide gap between the grass and the concrete. I started to cut my precise line next to the driveway, but nothing happened. My edger didn’t even pierce the grass. I was perplexed. So I lowered the blade a bit and tried again. It barely scratched the ground.
Then I remembered I had an extra blade in the basement. When I got it out and compared the new blade to the existing one, I was amazed to see that the old blade was 3½ inches shorter than the new one.
I realized something that I decided, right then and there, to call “The Edger Principle.”
My son had used the edger month after month, and over time he ever so slowly was shaving inches off the edger blade. The blade was shrinking at such a small, slow pace that he didn’t really realize that it had become ineffective and, in fact, almost useless. It took a fresh pair of eyes—and a new perspective—to realize it didn’t work anymore.
In business and in life, we all, at some point, suffer from The Edger Principle. Sometimes we simply are too close to a situation to realize that what we are doing has become ineffective and maybe we need to do something differently—or not do some things at all.
An independent, outside perspective can help.
I suggest having someone evaluate what you currently are doing in order to determine what you need to do more of, what you need to do less of or what you should stop doing altogether. This person can be a coach, mentor or whomever—as long as he or she can offer an independent and neutral (and fresh!) viewpoint.
Addressing The Edger Principle today will help you do what you do better tomorrow.
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