Ben’s rumble

What renovating a Victorian house has taught me so far about how the world works

• Whatever you have in mind for how much something is going to cost you in total, triple it. If you haven’t got enough money, make emergency arrangements for acquiring more money before you begin. Have a contingency. And triple that contingency
• Whatever date you had in mind for completion of said task, triple it. The best things take time
• Get your hands dirty. Don’t just pay someone else do everything for you. Taking part leads to a greater sense of ownership, and an understanding about how things work and how they are put together
• Trust your wife/husband/partner. She/they know better than you
• Stuff will go wrong. You will fail. And it doesn’t matter if you do. It’s how you deal with adversity that counts
• Remember why you set about to do something. Stuff gets hard. Things happen. Goals change. People change. Don’t lose sight of the why. This is the most important thing. If you can’t remember why you are doing something, it’s not going to be any fun, or any good
• Shop around for stuff. Don’t jump at the first offer for anything, just because it’s easy or convenient. We have this thing called the internet now. Use it
• Talk to people who have done it already. There’s no shame in asking for advice on anything

Coming next week…

The editorial…

How to make better decisions: What stripping a 150 year old beam taught me about life, love, and product design.