What I learned from painting a mirror black.
Yup you read that right. I learned something from painting a mirror I found at a charity shop black.
We’re currently redoing the décor in our home, changing it to better suit who we are. We’re trying our best to do it in a budget friendly way so we are shopping as much as we can in charity and second-hand stores. I found a mirror that I loved and knew It would be a perfect fit.
I immediately felt this tightening in my chest when I came home and wanted to begin and finish the project all within the day. I didn’t have any of the supplies I needed so I started panic searching to see which supplies I could get delivered in the quickest time, I even considered doing it in a colour and way that I had not envisioned. I thankfully stopped myself and stepped back, closing it in our outhouse to hopefully have it ‘out of sight out of mind’ until the weekend.
By the time the weekend rolled around all my supplies had arrived and I was able to begin. As any DIY person will understand the prep for a project is one of the most important parts of the project. Yet again, I found myself wanting to cut it short and to try and finish the project in the quickest time possible. My husband was helping me sand things down and prep it all, when he made some valid points which stopped me in my tracks and changed my perspective on things.
"I immediately felt this tightening in my chest when I came home and wanted to begin and finish the project all within the day."
He firstly asked me, “why are you in such a rush to finish?”
“uhhh… because…why not?” I answered.
I genuinely didn’t have a good enough answer. He then said to me, “no one is timing you to have this done and there is no time limit as to when you need to have this done, so take a step back and enjoy the process of creating.”
BOOM! That was it, that was all he needed to say.
I realised how much I do this with the work that I do. I always want to get and do things now! See success and results now. I often forget that building and maintaining a profitable business is about the process and not about one final result.
So here are the lessons I learned from painting a mirror black:
1. The prep is an incredibly important part. Your research, planning, understanding of your target market, competitors, strengths, weaknesses, seeing where opportunities lie, your networking, all your ‘prep’ is such an important part of growing your business.
2. Enjoy the process. Once you start, it is important to have goals and milestones to reach, but it is also important to remember to enjoy the process, don’t rush things just for the sake of it. Slow and steady wins the race.
3. There is no time limit. Yes, there may be time sensitive projects, but there is no time limit as to when you need to be ‘successful’ or for your business to have ‘made it’ (is that really even a thing?) So stop, take a nice biiiigggg deep breath and know that there is no one keeping a timer on you and you have an infinite amount of time to build and grow your business.
Honestly, I can’t believe I got reality checked by a mirror, and my husband, but it was needed and I’m so ready to implement these lessons in my business and in my life.
