Move the Ladder

WORKING ON A LADDER

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been helping a friend with some remodeling work. Most of what I’m doing is hard but fairly simple work—cutting out drywall for the electrician or tearing down ceilings so they can be sound-proofed. But it’s out of my ordinary day-to-day life, so it’s no surprise that I’m learning a few lessons along the way. The biggest lesson so far? Just move the ladder.

See, when you’re working on a house, and especially on ceilings, you end up climbing a ladder dozens of times a day. And unless you’re working on one specific spot, you’re slowly progressing around a room, moving a few inches or a foot at a time. This means that no matter where you put the ladder, it’s never in the perfect spot for long.

MOVING THE LADDER IS ANNOYING

Now, I have a wingspan of approximately 5 feet or 1.5 meters. You’d think that with this kind of reach, I’d be able to work anywhere within arm’s length of the ladder. And when I started, that’s what I tried to do. I found myself leaning out, reaching as far as I could so I wouldn’t have to move the ladder. Because moving the ladder is super annoying. You have to bring your tools down with you, set them down, scooch the ladder over, pick up your tools, and climb up again.

That may not seem annoying once or twice, but every few minutes when you’re trying to accomplish a seemingly endless and tedious task? It’s more annoying than reapplying sunscreen when you’re covered in sand on the beach.

SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

But the problem is, if you don’t move the ladder, the work gets harder. The screws don’t go in straight, the saw bounces off the drywall, and your shoulders file official complaints with HR. And finally, after weeks of this, I realized: just move the ladder.

Sure, it’s annoying. But it’s less annoying than redoing work that you screwed up because you didn’t move the ladder. It’s one little thing I can do to make the work easier, to set myself up for success. And life is hard enough without setting yourself up for success, don’t you think?

JUST MOVE THE LADDER

I’m hoping to start to apply this to other areas of my life, like taking the time in the evenings to get ready for the following day or doing a better job of taking notes when I have writing ideas so I don’t forget them and get frustrated later. But for now, I’m just working on remembering to move the ladder. Because that’s hard enough as it is.

What’s your version of moving the ladder?