I keep my tools in a tissue box.
Not a toolbox. A tissue box. On the episode I said it holds my one tool, which was an exaggeration in the wrong direction. It holds five. A hammer, a screwdriver with the interchangeable heads, an adjustable wrench, a tape measure, and a level.
My rule is simple. If you can't swing one of those at it or stab it with one of those, I'm probably not going to be able to help you with it.
So you can imagine how I felt the day somebody looked at our boat engine and said, "Oh, it's so easy."
The boat, the impeller, and Bill
If you read about our dishwasher a couple of weeks ago, you've already met this boat. It's the one that overheated at the dock because the impeller, the little part that pulls water in to cool the engine, had given up. That was the setup. This is the rest of it.
It was a ski day. Our coach, Bill Furbish, had driven down from Atlanta to help us ski. Bill loves to tinker. He likes fixing things the way some people like crossword puzzles. He took one look and said, "Oh, no, we can fix this. It's just the impeller."
Just the impeller. All you have to do is pull out half the engine compartment.
Bill pulled up a video on YouTube. Bill started asking for tools. And I started running back and forth to the garage to get my tissue box, which, as we've covered, was not going to get us there.
Jana watched all of this for a while. Then she picked up her phone and said, "Why don't we just call the boat dealer? They have a mechanic shop."
They did. And they sent a guy out to our dock with a whole truck full of tools and the knowledge of what to do with them. He was there by eight the next morning. He was done by eleven, maybe noon.
Late that next day, after a full day at a fundraiser and out skiing with friends, Bill looked at me and said, "We could have fixed that."
Then he stopped. A long pause. A little smirk started working its way across his face, and he got this look in his eye like a kid who knows exactly where the cookies are.
"And we'd still be working on it."
Then he chuckled. And I laughed, because we both knew. We wouldn't have just lost the day. We'd have been up most of the night before, too, flashlight in one hand, YouTube in the other.
He's right on both counts. We could have, and we'd still be at it. My back would hurt. My hands would be bloody. I'd own a garage full of tools I'd use once. We'd have made a few trips to the hardware store and probably spent as much as the mechanic cost. And we might not have done it right.
There's also a real chance Bill and I wouldn't have been friends for a while in the middle of it. If it worked, we'd have become friends again at the end. But the middle would have been long.
Jana's version, with an app
Jana has her own one.
She's in an art group, and they needed a way to share patterns and ideas with each other. One of her friends said, "Oh, I'll set us up on the app we use at work. It's so easy."
It wasn't. The app is a work thing, so the group could only use the free version, and the free version doesn't do what they needed. Jana spent more time trying to figure out how to share one art pattern than it would have taken to make the pattern. At one point she offered to just drive it over. Her friend lives a mile away.
That's when she decided. When somebody says "it's so easy," that's a red flag.
Why "easy" goes wrong
When somebody tells you something is easy, they aren't lying. They're telling you how it is for them. With their skills, their tools, their patience, and their idea of what "good enough" looks like.
Bill has the skills and loves the puzzle, so a day elbow-deep in an engine sounds like fun to him. Jana's friend uses that app every day at work, with the paid version and the training. To each of them, it really was easy.
The trouble is the gap between their "easy" and your outcome. That gap is where the lost weekends live. And the bloody knuckles, and the extra trips to the store.
It's the same thing as asking for directions back before phones. "Go down to the water tower and turn left. You can't miss it." And you get to the water tower and there are two roads. The guy giving the directions has lived there sixty years. He didn't even know there were two roads, because he's always taken the first one.
Easy. You can't miss it.
Okay, but pros aren't magic
I'd like to say the lesson is always call a professional. But two weeks ago a professional spent three days fixing our dishwasher, in our kitchen, taking phone calls at our counter.
So it isn't really about amateurs versus pros. It's about whether anybody stopped to get clear on what "done" means before the work started. The boat mechanic knew exactly what done looked like, and he brought the tools for it. Nobody had that conversation about the dishwasher. Including me.
Stop, drop, and evaluate
Early in the episode Jana asked me if I thought she was easy. I told her that's why I married her, and then said hello to her father, who listens. That is not what this section is about.
Jana's phrase for the moment someone says "it's so easy" is stop, drop, and evaluate. I said stop, drop, and roll away. Hers is better.
Before you say yes, ask two questions.
01 Stop. Somebody just said "it's so easy."
02 Ask: "What does done look like to you?"
03 Ask: "What do you value most here: time, money, or quality?"
04 Compare their answers with your own.
05 If they don't match, say so kindly, before the work starts.
What does done look like to you? Then see if it matches what done looks like to you. If somebody's done is "it runs, mostly" and yours is "it runs and I trust it," you've found your problem before it costs you a Saturday.
What do you value most here? Jana and I don't value the same things in the same order. She'll gladly spend money to save time. What she won't spend is time. I care a lot about the integrity of the finished thing. A rough first version is great for starting a business. It's not great for a ski binding you're going to land on.
Neither of those is the right answer. But you should know yours before somebody hands you their "easy." And if their answer doesn't match yours, the brave part is saying so out loud, kindly, before the work starts and not after.
This is what our morning practice, the 4-Minute Luck Activation Formula, is for. The first question is "What do I want to experience?" Run it before a project and you've defined done for yourself before anybody else gets to.
Afterward, run the evening questions from the 4-Minute Reflection Formula on how it went. What did I do well? What MIGHT I have done differently? How will I be more effective or efficient next time? How lucky am I? Most of my "what might I have done differently" answers on this topic come down to the same thing. I should have asked what done looked like.
A green flag, for contrast
We took Jana's ski to Land and Sea Detailing in Orlando to have inserts put in. Jeff, who runs the work there, deals with that kind of material all the time. He could easily have said, "Oh, that's easy," taken the ski, and seen how it turned out.
Instead he said, "I work on material like this every day, but I don't know enough about this particular ski. Given how you're going to use it, I'd rather you take it somewhere that does."
That's a green flag. Somebody who knows the edge of what they know, and tells you where it is. Then Jeff went a step further and pointed us to some other great contacts. He didn't get the job, and he helped anyway.
He also told us that once we have the inserts the way we want them, he can make the ski beautiful. We'll be back. That's how a green flag turns into a customer for life. On a ski you're going to land a jump on, that's the most valuable thing a person can say.
Questions people ask about this
Why is "it's so easy" a red flag?
Because "easy" describes how a task feels to the person saying it, with their skills, tools and standards. It says nothing about how it will go for you. When those don't match, you get lost time, extra cost, and frustration.
Should I DIY it or hire a professional?
Ask what done needs to look like and what you value most. If you'd rather save money and you have the time, the skills, and room for a mistake, DIY can be great. If you care more about your time, or getting it wrong carries real risk, pay someone who has the tools and has done it before.
What's the best question to ask before starting a project with someone?
"What does done look like to you?" Then compare it with what done looks like to you. Most project frustration comes from two people picturing two different finish lines.
What does a green flag look like when hiring help?
Someone who tells you where their expertise ends. A good pro explains the steps, names the risks, and will send you elsewhere when a job isn't a fit, even when they could have taken your money.
How do I push back when someone's "easy" doesn't match my standards?
Say it early, kindly, and plainly. Something like, "Here's what I need the finished result to look like. Can we get there this way?" It's much easier before the work starts than after.
Are professionals always the better choice?
No. Pros can take longer than promised too. The bigger factor is whether everyone agreed on what done looks like before starting. A clear finish line makes almost any helper better.
The Living Lucky® Practice
Exercise: Think of the next project on your list. Before anyone touches it, write one sentence that starts with "Done looks like..."
Reflection question: Where have I said yes to someone else's "easy" without asking what they meant by it?
Journal prompt: What do I value most when something needs fixing: my time, my money, or the quality of the result? Put them in order.
Action: The next time someone tells you something's easy, ask them, "What does done look like to you?"
If you want a place to run these questions before and after the next "easy" project, our journals and books are on Amazon under Jana and Jason Shelfer, and at livinglucky.com. If you'd like help getting clear on what done looks like in your business or your relationships, that's what our coaching is for, at livinglucky.com too. And subscribe to our YouTube channel for more of this.
Hear the whole conversation on the Living Lucky® Podcast with Jana and Jason Shelfer, Season 11, Episode 52: "It's So Easy Is a Red Flag."
Jana blames Staples, by the way. Years ago they came out with that red Easy Button you put on your desk. You finish a task, you press it, and it says, "That was easy."
I told her on the episode I'm ordering ten or twelve of them. One for every room in the house.
She didn’t think that was funny at all.
We Create Our Luck®.
