I suspect that the number one reason that lawnmower repair people exist is because there’s a large volume of people who can’t or don’t want to repair their own lawnmowers.
That’s right; I came up with that all on my own. Call me Socrates.
Nobody wants to break their lawnmower…that’s why most people don’t try to fix it. If you break it, then somebody else has to fix it…parts, labor, time out of commission…the whole bit. If you don’t break it, then somebody else has to fix it…parts, labor, time out of commission…the whole bit. See that? Same bit. Same situation. Same outcome. Maybe the cost is lower if you don’t try to fix it yourself. And maybe it is easier and takes less time to drop it off somewhere, go about your day, then return later on to pick up your newly-repaired lawnmower.
So, don’t bother fixing it yourself. Let the qualified repair person fix it.
I read the best quote today:
Father: “Who taught you that? Do they teach you that at school?”
9-year-old programming prodigy, exasperated: “No, Daddy! You can teach yourself that.”
Is there anything that we cannot teach ourselves? I suspect not. I think that the number one thing that keeps us from teaching ourself something new, out of interest or out of necessity, is fear. I am talking about fear of breaking the lawnmower.
Remember, the worst that can happen when your lawnmower stops working is that you try to fix it, break it, and pay for it, literally, in your local currency. If you have to buy a new one altogether…ouch. That sucks. A good lawnmower isn’t cheap. But, that’s it. That’s all that happens.
But…if you muster up a little courage and start loosening screws…
You might just wind up fixing that lawnmower. Maybe, just maybe, with the help of a friend on the phone, a video on Youtube, and some articles online, you might actually wind up fixing the lawnmower. Sounds silly, huh? A grown man having an epiphany because he got a 12-year-old lawnmower working again? Hey, it happens.
All too often, the very worst that can happen if you go ahead and try something for yourself is that you might wind up having to say, “Honey…I broke the lawnmower…”
The best? From something as trivial as fixing a lawnmower? Who knows. Who knows what can happen when you prove to yourself, for the umptillionth time, that you can pretty much teach yourself to do anything…
Illuminate Possibilities 