D.I.Y. Versus S.E.P.D.T.

When Do It Yourself (DIY) is the only option, it’s what you do.

If you want to play music, and you’re a teenager, and there’s an all-ages club with other teenagers some how mystically playing there on weekends, you figure out who to ask to get your shot.*

Nobody else will do it for you, so you do it yourself.

It’s a start.

If you want to install a new furnace, and you’re an adult, and you have no idea what you’re doing, not to mention natural gas lines, and electricity, and plumbing modestly terrify you (and they terrify your wife more, and you can’t hide your fear or calm hers), you say, “Somebody Else Please Do This” (SEPDT).

It’s a very acceptable option.

Even if the acronym is hard to pronounce (“sep-dih” I think?)

The problems arise when you start to mix and match without any good purpose or intentions.

If I tried to replace the furnace by myself I might have blown up our house.

If somebody had said, “Let me put my booking agent on this” to teenage me, I wouldn’t have learned all the details about booking shows.

There’s a lot of good information earned by learning to unpack each, for yourself, to get the job done (right).

When there’s no option except to do something yourself, figure out how to do it without dying.

When there are options to ask for help that will keep you from dying (or saving precious time, mental energy. and/or money on), hire that help.

Don’t ever take all the DIY or SEPDT off the table either.

The experiences of figuring out which to use and when are also valuable, including when to stack them!

You might start something yourself and hire someone to finish it or vice versa.

That’s OK too.

This post is my reminder that anytime I’m considering doing it myself or asking somebody else to please do it, I always want to consider what the other looks like as well.

In the end —

Get the good stuff done right.

The only real cost is in doing it wrong.

*shoutout to Kevin Metro.