By Dorothy Hill

It is such a privilege to be able to share with you about perseverance and completing what we start. No one needs this pep talk more than I.  Perseverance is a determination to complete a task. A singlemindedness. It will magnify every emotion you have ever had, from joy and eager anticipation to the depths of despair and (for me) self-loathing.  I ask your indulgence as I share a completely true story that illustrates this rigorous discipline. 

In those days we lived in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. The wind was pretty constant and came at us out of the southwest. Our tri-level home bore the scars of the wind & extreme weather and it was clear that the siding needed to be replaced. So we got three estimates and our eyes popped right out of our heads. Just like in the cartoons. BOING. $32,000 was the cheapest! For steel siding! We had lived there long enough to internalize the fierce spirit of independence, and we squared our pioneer shoulders and declared we would do this ourselves. This was confidence born of inexperience.  And ignorance. 

So we bought the siding for a fraction of the cost of the estimate.  Oh, we laughed and felt smug and financially ahead of the curve for a time. (The ordeal/trip to get the siding is a story in itself that resulted in my writing my Last Will and Testament when I made it home.) We also decided to expand the project to include new, energy efficient windows and two sliding glass doors.  We did some research & decided yeah, we can do this. Even writing this I just shake my head at the breath of our ignorance. 

This project consumed Every. Single. Day. Hour. Thought. of that entire summer.  If my hubs was home, we were working on that siding and the windows. And we worked until it was too dark to see. At that latitude, it stayed light until around 9 p.m. or so. 

I was sick to death of the siding, the wind, the heat, and the project that was Never. Going to. End. At some point, in despair and desperation, I suggested we just burn the house down. He rolled his eyes at me and mumbled something like, “We’re almost done.”

Oh no we weren’t. There were still many boxes of siding, insulation, all kinds of trim and soffits and windows and doors. And scaffolding we had to move 3 times, and heavy drills and extension cords. We had to use screws because the relentless wind would pry the nails loose from the wood and the siding would rattle. I had seen houses that had lost some of their siding due to the wind. There were still LOTS of steel and insulation to cut. Oh, and shutters. They needed to be painted and hung. And speaking of paint as an added bonus, the day the hubs started taking out the first window – the bathroom window- the bathroom in which I was taking a SHOWER – that was the moment I realized that with the installation of the first window, this horribly huge project moved to include the inside of my house, too. Every room that had a window or sliding door would now need to be re- trimmed and painted.  Top to bottom and then there was a decision about ratty worn out carpet and the popcorn material on every ceiling in the house.  Do one, do them all.  See what I mean? I came to despise this project and our own foolishness at undertaking it.

 Siding and windows and carpet, O My!

Construction and painting that makes me sigh

Will it ever be over, will it ever be done?

It never was murmured that it would be fun… cause it wasn’t 

I believed we would never be done. I would have forgotten how to cook everything. I likely would not even recognize a stove. My hands, arms, legs, and my mental, state would never be the same. 

This project consumed us. Physically, personally, financially, emotionally. It was going to chew us up & spit us out. Evidently our project was on steroids and it was growing.  I never tallied the final costs, because I suspected it would be =/> $32K.  But even if it was, we got a lot more bang for our bucks. On a positive note, the hubs and I were also developing chiseled-looking muscles.  I’m telling you this, not even Tony Horton’s P90X was as hard as this project.

What we did not do was complain. I found myself biting on a stick to keep from hurling abuse at the universe for the difficulty of this DIY project. Once, on an especially hard day, I found myself biting on a scrap piece of steel siding. That’s not good…think galvanic shocks from metal dental fillings biting down on steel. Since I’ve moved south and stopped all this hard construction work, I’ve gotten new dental crowns and veneers. A blessing for sure. 

Before the snow started falling we had completed our projects. In time I stopped hating my house and became calm and content once more. 

During a time of contemplation, I thought about this siding experience and came to six conclusions about perseverance and finishing what we start. 

1. Some things (like the siding) are not open ended. You cannot just decide not to finish it. It must be done.  Just do it. Find a stick to bite on if you must.
2. Other things, like a story or poem I’ve started, I can make a judgment about whether or not they are worth the effort.  If you decide not to continue with it, please put it in a file and come back to it later.
3. Sometimes you work so hard on a written piece that you just begin to hate it… like I hated my house for a while. But after I saw it done, I forgave it and began to love it again.
4. Before you begin, have a plan. As detailed as you can make it.
   hard estimates for projects and crafts
   detailed outlines for each chapter of a book of non-fiction
   thorough synopsis for each chapter of a book of fiction
   clean off your work space, get your desk/work area super organized.
   Knowing where your tool are makes it so much easier to work
5. As Steven Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind”.
   As much as possible set an end date
   Get your calendar out and identify the time you will be working on your project
   Be reasonable in your time estimates. (I’ve read that many diets begin with a goal that states they will lose between 30 and 3000 pounds in 2 weeks.  Don’t make a goal like that.)
   Guard that time and don’t let others fill it up with stuff that will keep you from accomplishing your goal.
   It’s okay to be flexible, as long as you are not using “I’m being flexible” to avoid a difficult part of the work.
6. Find an accountability partner. Someone who will ask you how it’s going. Someone you can trust with your words and your work. Seek that respected friend who loves you enough to gently call you out on it when you are avoiding your work. That person who will walk you back you your writing desk, put you in your chair and quietly leave the room so you can work. Make sure your door only locks from the inside.  Just a thought. 

It feels absolutely fabulous to complete a difficult project. When I walked across the street and looked back at my house I was very proud.  The biggest reward I had at the time was, “I’ll never have to paint you again.” My house looked very good and unless the wind and weather blow it down completely, that siding is on there to stay.

Now, do you have any projects to finish?  I do.  One is a children’s story about a little girl named Anna. It is on my calendar to complete in January.  Another is a cross-stitch that I started in 1992. It’s painful to admit that. I’ll put it on the calendar to finish in February.  The thing is, it’s almost done.  Almost. Not Quite. 

Keep Reading.  Keep Writing. 

Dorothy Hill has lived in Arkansas for 10 years. She finds it easy to invest an entire day reading while ignoring everything else. She is married and has 4 grown children and 4 grandchildren. She is currently serving as Secretary for the Little Rock Chapter of American Christian Writers. What she really wants to do is quit work and fill her days with writing.