Step four is maintenance. It is important that as we work on eliminating our problems, we also check on our progress and see if our hypothesis was indeed correct. If we haven’t attained our desired result, we have to readjust and try again.
In this case, we noticed a significant change in the garden. For the first time, we could see young shoots sprouting and there was finally hope for the fruit trees. However, although we saw a vast improvement, evidently some plants were still being eaten. Maybe it was slugs, other insects, or birds. We had greatly reduced the impact of snails for this season, but there were other minor causes we had to address.
Although we had eliminated a large number of snails that would lay eggs, and unearthed some unhatched eggs, we had to consider the impact of snail eggs and baby snails that we hadn’t yet discovered. There were snails in neighboring yards too. The snails would never truly be 100% gone from the garden, but that didn’t mean we should leave it be. We had to diligently maintain the garden, by checking for snails everyday.
And as we went on a two week long trip, we also had to wonder if the snails would return and wreak havoc in our absence. Being away can be a good indicator of whether or not you’ve successfully addressed the problem. Changing your surroundings can give you perspective and test to see if what you’ve learned can apply to other things as well.
Which brings us to step five, application. It is important to apply our lessons to other problems. Not only does it save time because we don’t have to open up a new project and go through steps one to four, but it also helps us review the lesson learned.
Application can be made by tweaking variables. For instance, in Thailand, we found snails in a friend’s yard. If we had stayed longer, we may have had time to evict some Thai snails. Another application would be to change the snail variable and apply the same concept to a problem you have at the home or office. Can you identify that a problem exists, identify its cause, address it, and maintain those results? It is the same concept, applied over and over again. If you can conquer a single problem, you will have the motivation to tackle another one.
So, what’s your snail?
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