Curse of Competence: How Being Good gets in the way of Becoming Great

Just before the storms hit last winter, my father-in-law and I replaced 26 feet of fence on my property. I must say, for a couple of non-handyman-sorts like the two of us, it is a very well done fence.

The fence posts are appropriately spaced and perfectly vertical. Four nails are equally distributed on the fence boards to allow for shrinking and expanding. The boards are evenly spaced and level across the top and bottom.

The whole job took less than five hours from start to finish and several of the neighbors have complimented us on both the quality of the work and the speed we accomplished the job. For my first fence job, it is very well done.

Would I like to do it again? Not on your life!

On occasion, I can appreciate the need to get one