Let your 'yes' be 'yes.'

I hired a painter. I have a big building to paint, and some of the walls are brick. The ceiling is high, and a few of the walls and parts of the ceiling had been painted black by the former tenant. Also, there were large sections of brand-new drywall, with still other sections which had been re-coated with drywall compound to cover some poor finishing which used to be hidden. Any one of those alone, and I might have tried to do the job myself or with the help of an odd wife or friend, but combine them all and it was a job for a pro. I got a recommendation from a friend who is a contractor, and set up a time to meet him at the job site.

The man came, listened to my requirements for the job, looked over the building, and then announced that he and two helpers could do it in a day, maybe a day and a half. And he quoted me a price. I asked if that was his best price, and he assured me there was just no way he could do it for less, at all, period. So I asked him to put it in writing. He did not reach for paper and pen, so I assumed he would show up with the written bid the day we started or something. Never did. Later that evening, after a conversation with Hope, I called him and told him we were not going to do it after all, because we simply did not have that much money to spend right now. He lowered the price significantly and I said OK.

Well, I'm going to jump ahead - there were several times during the job when I was certain that this was all a huge mistake. But the paint job looks great, the floor is clean enough, and I handed him the check with my thanks. I guess communication skills are highly overrated in contractors...

I have found two distinct things which will cause me to be disappointed in my life:
1. When I have set my expectations too high. If I expect more than is reasonable, I will be disappointed most every time. Sure, there are times when that causes the people involved to rise to the expectation and push hard enough to come through, but mostly not.
2. When people promise big and deliver small. That one haunts me to the point that I have become very careful myself about making promises. I want to be sure my 'yes' is actually going to be 'yes.'