Spent the day putting together my new table with Karaj. We bought a round table top last week which we cut to size and put in my corner of the room together with some angle-iron shelving below and a wooden shelf above. My heart was not really in it, which was a shame because it was a nice little project. I felt rushed as well. Partly because I wanted to be somewhere else or do something else, and partly because Karaj had other engagements.
As it was, he delayed leaving until the final minute, by which time we had accomplished more than I felt we would. At one point I suggested leaving it until we had more time, but these sorts of comments are superfluous when dealing with a doer. Because of my attitude, my lethargy and my lack of concentration I was making basic errors which, when I am using power tools, can be dangerous. Fortunately, nothing went badly wrong.
Follow-up post: Verbalise My Feelings
* ‘Wenn schon, denn schon‘ is one of my favourite German phrases. It translates as: ‘If you’re going to do something, then do it properly, fully, completely‘. I have used it as the title of this post because the lesson here is to focus fully on whatever is in front of us. I was distracted by thoughts of being elsewhere or of doing something else. This was a common trait of mine, whereas Karaj was always an example of being fully focused, fully engaged and fully committed to whatever he was doing at the time.