When you realize your parents are getting old, it’s natural to start taking stock of what they’ve imparted on you that you try to live by and will then pass on to your children. A sample piece of wisdom I thought of the other day comes from my mother: “Do it right the first time, so you don’t have to go back and fix it.”
The recollection came when I read this quote in Todd Defren’s strategy vs. tactics post, one of several recent blog posts on the topic: “You’re better off finding current money to do right than losing future money by doing wrong.”
You may not register the impact of doing wrong for a while. But when you do, you’ll feel it, likely as a slap on your forehead. I’ve had to slap my forehead a bunch of times since launching my business; I’m probably not done yet.
Doing it wrong costs money, time, and effort. It’s a waste, and zero waste is a major (environmental) sustainability objective. So focus on doing it right from the outset. The same goes for doing the right thing.
Just something I’ve been mulling over lately, as I contemplate the next right thing to do.
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It’s another reminder that we might all want to recall and live by some of the basic principles taught by our grandparents (or whatever generation for you lived through the Great Depression). The frugality & conservation of resources, help for neighbors, and other values from that era will serve us all well. I laugh when I realize that there are so many things I’m learning to do now to live more sustainably, that are things I remember hearing about from my grandparents.
@Liz Krueger: Isn’t that the truth! I, too, frequently realize that what I considered normal back when I was growing up, in the 1980s communist Czechoslovakia, would now be called a sustainable lifestyle. Except the motivation was sheer necessity. For example, we hung laundry on the line because there were no dryers.