Chuck Norris Does Not Wear a Hard Hat
Becoming a Building Legend!!
Legendary Toughness
Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a hard hat—the job site wears protection from him!
We love the legendary Chuck Norris,1 specifically because he is unstoppable, untouchable, indestructible. Its fun to pretend that everything he can do in the movies is real so long as we remember when and where to stop pretending.
Yes we are tough.
Yes we are capable.
Yes we are resilient.
We are not indestructible though.
If greatness is just good work repeated then we need staying power to keep repeating good work. We need the ability to keep doing it again after lunch, after the weekend, after this year and after next.
Staying Power is resilience made sustainable!
…And sustainable means we need to be honest with ourselves, perhaps more honest than we have been brave enough to be before.
Honesty means you might be tough enough to do anything, but no one is tough enough to do EVERYTHING! Except for (maybe) Chuck Norris!2 So unless you are really confident in your plot armor, you can’t go any faster than you can go.
The answer can’t always be more effort. We can’t just add pressure, add load, add voltage, add horsepower and just hope things will work out. Even when your things do not break, your systems will. And if your systems hold it together your people will begin to fracture.
Am I saying that some horsepower, nominal voltage, reasonable effort is too much? Of course not. As strong and capable people we are already applying pressure though.
Too much pressure is just as big a problem as not enough…
…and when too much pressure causes your equipment, your systems, your people to fail in a catastrophic manner, this is a much bigger problem than being just slightly under powered is.
Remember, Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
My favorite part of any electrical project is turning on the lights for the first time. Because I am good at what I do, the lights get the right amount of voltage and they shine brightly. You do not have to be an electrical specialist, I just need you to understand that voltage is electrical pressure. Not enough electrical pressure, and the lights will not light up. Too much electrical pressure and they shine really brightly for a split second before they go dark and all the smoke gets out!
When smoke (and darkness) start pouring out of your lights, this is a catastrophic failure. It means we can not fix them and replacing them will take more work than installing the lighting system correctly the first time.
Over Powered and Burning out Early
To be an excellent Team Leader or Team Builder, you need to understand how much effort is good, healthy, productive, and how much will lead to broken equipment, failed systems, and burned out people.
Optimal Effort makes you sustainable. Sustainability is the path to becoming a Legend!
Wear a hard hat.
Optimize your effort.
And remember that any career, and perhaps construction trades especially are a marathon, not a sprint!
Terry Barkman works as a coach and consultant with Leaders to
Develop Teams who work together
so that your organization can sustainably
grow without burning you out!
He is Thought Leader, Speaker, Author, and
connoisseur of run on sentences.
His upcoming book Terry-Fied goes deeper into how to get relational leadership working
for your team!
Terry Speaks ~ Photo Credit Anita Alberto
Chuck Norris doesn’t use a level—the ground adjusts itself until it’s perfectly flat!
Chuck Norris doesn’t need blueprints—buildings follow his instructions telepathically!
Chuck Norris once framed a house in 10 minutes—including the concrete cure time!
Chuck Norris does not get coffee - Coffee delivers itself to Chuck Norris!
Chuck Norris doesn’t pull permits—inspectors ask him for approval!
Chuck Norris doesn’t get OSHA violations—OSHA gets Chuck Norris violations!
Chuck Norris doesn’t hit rebar—rebar moves out of his way!
Chuck Norris doesn’t measure twice—he’s always right the first time!
Chuck Norris doesn’t wait for concrete to set—it sets out of fear!
Chuck Norris doesn’t fix mistakes—mistakes fix themselves!
