Inefficiencies

Location: Near the corner of Ellis and  Rodney Street, about two houses away on Ellis, in Waterloo

Description: A road on the right complimented by a boulevard and sidewalk on the left. The road has piles of leaves on it that have been raked there for pickup.


Story: We all want things to work perfectly, or at least better than how they currently do. It's very easy to spot problems in your life and think of simple ways they could be improved. If that pothole was just filled in, the sidewalk made level, or your neighbour would pick up after his dog, then everything would be ideal. Extending this mentality to your own life is more productive, as saying that your life would be better if you cleaned up more often can lead you to do just that.

It's easy to get carried away and get upset if things aren't exactly how you want them, right now. People get discouraged when they try something new and it doesn't turn out like a masterpiece. It's especially true in businesses where new products are tried and then quickly abandoned. It can be hard to continue when there seem to be so many problems.

There is a long-term advantage to trying something new though. If you went about growing your own food, you could save money and spend more time at home and outside. It might make more sense to let the professionals (farmers) do the work because they can do it so well, but that's thinking short-term. Yes, you won't be doing everything as quickly or as cheaply, and perhaps you never will, but that doesn't mean it's a bad investment. Maybe your vegetables cost you more than if you bought them from the store, but you might save enough on gas to make it worthwhile.

When you're changing from one situation to another, you have to accept the inefficiencies that occur. Not everything will work perfectly the first time; that's called learning. So long as you're learning though, you're bettering yourself and reducing the inefficiencies. So what if you can't clean your house as fast or well as a professional service? By doing it yourself it's probably cheaper and it can give you a sense of accomplishment when it's done.

Ideally, everyone would compost their own leaves and then use it as mulch for their gardens, but not everyone is there yet. Perhaps some people's time is better spent working at their own job, and so it makes more sense to have the city pick up the leaves. This allows mulch to be produced on a large scale and then individuals can buy the end product without any fuss. On the whole it's better if everyone was able to do it themselves, but doing it this way still gets the job done.

Don't get caught up with doing it right the first time, just get it done without any huge problems. Afterwards you can find your mistakes and try again. Each time you repeat the cycle you'll get better and the work will be more streamlined. So don't fret; it may not be perfect, but it works.