The Guy that just Hung My Christmas Lights had to be a Yeti

He was a nice enough guy, but he was enormous. I'm talking 6'8" or 6'9" or something like that, most definitely pushing 250 lbs. He was completely bald, had a bright white biker mustache, jailhouse tats covering both arms, and had a surprisingly high-pitched voice. He enunciated remarkably well (better than me, I thought) which further put me back on my heels.

After I got past the initial shock of this fella, my second thought was "why on earth am I paying someone to put Christmas lights on my house?" (My first thought was, "Good God!!") Why not do it myself then I don't have to be scared to death for a few seconds? The guy that had done it for the last two years was still around, but when I called him he said he wasn't doing it this time. He gave me Yeti's name and number. $100 and two hours later, Yeti was moving on down to the next house. He was seriously a very nice guy and I'd hire him again.

It got me thinking, that second question. Christmas is such a fun time of year and part of the fun is putting the decorations up yourself. I put the lights on the bushes, around the yard - that ladder just scares me to death. We put up the tree, cook the meal, wrap and open the gifts, and so on. Why do I hold back on hanging the lights on the roof line of the house? I've done it before, many times, but for the past three seasons, I wimped out.

Christmas is a risky time of year. Before I had children I would slap the ladder to the side of the house and run all over the place to hang the lights. I didn't give it much thought. As I've grown older, more aware of my mortality and my family's need for me to be in one piece, I've become more risk adverse. $100 seems a small price to pay to avoid the risk. The lesson here is that as we know more, experience more, we begin to truly appreciate the consequences of our actions. We can make informed decisions about what risk we assume.

With experience comes wisdom, if you remain open minded along the way. Much like my first impression of Yeti was not accurate, so too could our first perceptions of risk we see on our projects. Give it time, be patient and always be aware. Most importantly, be a student of your projects and programs so that you too can learn risks are out there.