A piece of cake

Posted on by WritingfromtheheartwithBrian

The Do-It-Yourself home repair guy on the television was connecting two PVC couplings. He cut here, brushed some adhesive there, and voila, it was done in no time. He made it look so simple. To steal a line from Geico, the U.S.-based auto insurance company, it looked “so easy a caveman can do it.”

For a brief second, I thought to myself, “hey, I can do that, no problems.” I even told my wife that I thought it looked like “a piece of cake.”

And then I looked under the sink, back up at the faucet and then down at my toolbox. And in that instant, reality came crashing home. I shook my head and told myself, “What in the heck are you thinking about it. Nope, no way, no can-do, we got a caveman here, you don’t have the right tools, you need to call a real plumber.”

Okay, it wasn’t quite like that, but let’s just say, I know my limitations.

Say what?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about things in our lives that look simple, but in reality are extremely complex or challenging. These seemingly effortless actions involve intricate coordination, dexterity, and complex systems of rules and knowledge. The list has been longer than I expected:

–Speaking a foreign language. It seems effortless, yet it involves intricate grammar rules and vocabulary. Travel back in time with me to to watch High School Brian. You’d see my Spanish Teacher and the Spanish flying out of her mouth. And then you’d see me, my mouth barely moving and when I did speak, I sounded nothing like her. Ugh. Qué dijiste?

–Writing. Oh, there are lots of people who think writing is as “easy as 1, 2, 3,” but these people often seem to be the same ones who fail to correctly use “their, they’re, and there” or “your and you’re.” When I think about the challenge of writing, I find myself reflecting on an old boss of mine. He liked to have you sit with him while he reviewed your work. It was helpful because he often sat in on high level business meetings that I wasn’t privy and could add context and background. Most of the times, though, it was a smack to the ego. I would hand him something that I thought was decently written. You’d sit next to him red-faced as he moved things around and rewrote your text like you were a fresh-out of-college newbie. You’d go from “no, no, don’t change that” to “Oh yea, that sounds ten times better.” Ugh.

–Sudoku. My wife and son test each other to see how fast they can compete Sudoku games. Sudoku is a logic-based puzzle. You fill a 9×9 grid with numbers 1-9. Each number must appear only once in every row, column, and 3×3 subgrid. Many people love these games. Me? No freaking way. Just shoot me now. It’s mental gymnastics that I just can’t get my head wrapped around.

–Riding a bike. Riding a bike requires a delicate balance, steering, and pedaling all at once, which takes time and practice to master. We think it looks easy, but it takes time to master all three. And we expect little kids to get it like it’s a piece of cake. Say what?

—Solving a Rubik’s cube: It’s Suduku for the hands. While it looks simple, it requires a specific sequence of moves and understanding of the cube’s structure. Again, too complicated for my little brain.

–Teaching a child to tie their shoes, tell time, read, and do basic math. Oh, poor kids everywhere. I feel for them. I look at my watch and I still have to make sure I’m reading the time correctly. Good grief.

–Teaching a teenager to drive. My wife took over this job and I can never thank her enough. We all take driving for granted. It looks so easy and then you get behind the wheel and damned hard. (At least it’s hard to be a good driver.)

–Cooking anything harder than spaghetti or eggs. Oh, I mean well. I always want to try something straight out of Julia Child’s cookbook and then I get in the kitchen and I lose all of my bravado. Instead, I throw Julia out the window and go for simple. Grilled cheese or Bacon Lettuce Tomato Sandwich, anyone?

I felt bad about not trying to fix our plumbing problem on my own, but then I remembered a quote I had read from American writer Benjamin Hoff. He wrote, “The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”

In the end, simplicity is in the eye of the beholder. For me, it was better to spend my time elsewhere. It would take me hours to fix the plumbing problem — let’s be real, it might possibly take days. For a professional plumber, better versed and on the ball, the job took exactly ten minutes.

I often try to fix things myself. However, in this instance, getting help and having it done right the first time was the best option. Yes, simplicity over complexity!

…….

Check out my blog at www.writingfromtheheartwithbrian.com. I have a companion piece today titled, A skinned knee and bruised ego, where I dive deeper into things that look simple, but are really challenging. Be sure to follow me on Instagram at @writingfromtheheartwithbrian. 

Thanks for reading.

Images by Pexels.

Geico – “So easy a caveman can do it.”

49 thoughts on “A piece of cake”

  1. I am sooooooooo with you on this. I know my gifts and I know my challenges. and I know if I try something that does not come somewhat naturally to me, it is going to cost me more to hire someone to try to undo or fix it than if I had just hired them in the first place.

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  2. Pingback: A skinned knee and bruised ego – Writing from the Heart with Brian

    1. My son has explained Sudoku to me several times. I always reminds me of those horrible horrible word problems that we had in school. I run away screaming every time. And people do this for fun!!!!! Ugh. When I die, if St. Peter turns me away, the Devil is going to be waiting on me with a book full of Sudoku problems. Ha, ha, ha, I’m kidding, but it shows how poor my math skills are!!!

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      1. It just makes my brain hurt. With you! I’m probably missing out on some cognitive wellness…or will regret my Sudoku-free choices when I arrive in my golden years but I’m not caving! 😜😜😜

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  6. I agree both on how it’s better to not waste time/money trying to do something someone else can do better. And about “lives that look simple, but in reality are extremely complex or challenging.” True dat.

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  7. I’m with you on writing not being as easy as it looks. Once desktop publishing became a thing in the 1990s, people thought they could do without professionals. Their secretaries could create ads, flyers, etc. and lost a few clients. Their results were less than great for all the writing reasons you mentioned. Plus basic material was missing like who, what, where, when and why.

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      2. It’s a pet peeve. At the top of the list. “You’re in communications, right? We have something that we prepared, can you make this pretty for us.” The pretty comment always blows my mind. Ugh. Of course it’s always a rush job and never thought out real well. You start to give it a real edit and their eyes start to panic. Always funny to see.

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      4. What does “pretty” even mean? I once edited a piece and had a designer give it a real layout and the business person came back and said they just wanted me to “give it the once over.” What they really wanted was for me to wink-wink give my approval on their crappy content. You’ve been there, you know! Yea, I think we’ve had the same client/boss/coworkers! Ha ha 😊🤣🤣🤣😎

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  8. You’re so right, Brian. Knowing one’s limitations is a good thing. It can save you money, time-or your life! But challenges are good, too. You can eventually improve your skills and that’s an ego booster (e.g., when you learned to ride your bike). 🙂

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    1. I think it ultimately comes back to interest. I really don’t have much interest in plumbing. But refinishing a piece of furniture . . . Now that’s something I’m willing to try. I didn’t have much interest as a kid watching my dad refinish antiques, but I’m playing around with an old coffee table and it’s been fun. The plumbing job would not have been fun for me. Ha, ha.

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  9. I was able to ride a bike within the hour when next door neighbour helped me on that as he taught his son. Although I was able to ride it within the hour, it would have been a couple of hours before feeling more confident. I was 9 or 10 when I learnt. His son was 2 or 3 years younger than me and took longer to get the gist of it. He was still having the odd accident bike riding a day or two later.

    Sudoku. No. Not for me.

    Rubik cube, very close. But no, I couldn’t do it.

    Learnt French at school because you had to. Could count in numbers and the oddd few other words. But be fluent in it to say for 5 years of schooling I had to do French. No.

    I know a bit of BSL. But some that I knew, I forgotten because of having no one each day to have BSL with. I know the fingerspelling confidently. I can do that quickly if I wanted. But to read it back when someone uses it, then I am slower.

    I will definitely leave the plumbing to the professionals, as much as something may look very easy. I just don’t want to chance it.

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  10. This is so good, Brian! I love a DIY project — but plumbing?? It’s just torture! I think it’s a mark of a professional when they can make something look easy (like Steph Curry) and then for the rest of us to know our limits. Love your fantastic reminder to stay in our lanes!

    And for the record, you make incredibly humorous, relatable, heartfelt writing look easy. I’m envious! ❤

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    1. I may try to refurbish an old coffee table that we have. I learned enough from my father and have some basic interest. I’m okay with my limitations. It won’t be drudgery. Now Plumbing, nope! No way! Ha ha.

      Aww, thank you for the kind comment. “Humorous, relatable, heartfelt.” Wow, thank you. I’m floating on cloud nine over here! Thank you!!!!😊😊😊♥️😎😎😎😊

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  11. An entertaining post. Some of these things were easy for me to learn like learning to ride a bicycle and cooking. Some, like teaching a child to tie their shoes, tell time, read, and do basic math were very hard work. I read in tandem with my remedial son every evening until he was 12 years old

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  13. I can relate to so much of what you’re talking about, Brian. The plethora of self-published books out there speaks to how easy some people think writing is. And, I’ve written about this before, but my (younger) sister had to teach me how to drive a standard (back when we all used a clutch to drive, or maybe not all, but all in my family) because my parents said “enough is enough.” They’d taught their three teenagers to drive and didn’t want to go through that again. (I almost spelled “their” wrong). Great post 🙂

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    1. When everyone needed to know how to drive a manual transmission (stick). Oh those were the days. I considered letting my two oldest teach our youngest son but if I left it up to them, they would’ve taught him to be a speed demon. They drive too fast. And you’re so right, writing well is hard work. Many people forget that. 😊😊😎😎

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  14. Your post made me recall the times right after my wife and I married. We had little extra money, so I used to take on these home projects that were often over my head. When I did complete them, it took three times as long as they should have. Now, I just pay the specialists. It’s worth it to me, especially since my vision isn’t great.

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  16. I love the spending time quote and the list of simple/not-so-simple things. Great observations! The plumbing situation reminds me of something my father-in-law says about DIY projects: “the only difference between a professional and an amateur is time…….and money…….. and quality of work” 😁

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    1. Oh I’m cheap as hell. I hate calling in a plumber, but it literally took him a few minutes and voila he was done. I looked up from laptop and he was already done. I swear to God it would have taken me three weeks to do the same job and my wife would have been frustrated that it was taking me so long to finish. Ugh. Ha, ha, I’ll go with the plumber for the win.

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  17. I hear you loud and clear! A few weeks ago, my son wanted to install a replacement faucet we’ve had for a while. Watching videos on YouTube, it looked very straight forward and could have taken an hour. It took a week and about 5 trips to the hardware store. And my husband had to get out a blow torch to heat a 45 yr. old and quite frozen joint. Between the 3 of us, the faucet, a new drain, p trap, and water lines were finally installed. We left driving to driver’s school (that even had a 2 hr. class for parents to learn how to help our fledgling drivers with permits).

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    1. I like trying new things too. I’m pretty frugal and have you-tubed things in the past. But I have to be excited about it. If I’m not — it could be days to completion and lots of complaining! Ha ha. Good for you with the faucet. Wish I had that skill and patience!!!😊😊😊😊😎😎😎

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  18. I got into Sudoku when it first came out, played for a while, and eventually lost interest. I tried doing a puzzle again a few months ago, and holy crap, how did I ever solve them in the first place?!

    This post makes me nervous, because we just bought a new kitchen faucet, and I’ve got it stuck in my head that I can install it myself. Even though I am not the least bit handy and have never attempted anything plumbing-related.

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