Building a Great Life

© 2003 Boaz Rauchwerger

I’m just completing a four-month process of helping my friend Ed build a new house on Dictionary Hill. The area is about 15 miles southeast of downtown San Diego and is known for its hilly terrain and the abundance of blue granite rocks.

Although I’m a professional speaker, there is something in me that takes me back to what my father used to do. He was a builder and a carpenter. I have fond memories, as a teenager, of helping my dad build onto our home. There are a number of valuable parallels between building a great house and building a great life.

My friend, Adnan Alameri, has been building homes on Dictionary Hill for a number of years. He is known for the high quality of his homes and the extra features in each one of them.

Ed, as he is known here in America, is an Arab from Iraq. I am a Jew from Israel. We are the best of friends. We are also making our point in the world that states how much good can come from cooperation.

When Ed started his most recent new home he asked if I wanted to become an active participant so I could learn the steps involved in being a general contractor. I jumped at the opportunity.

We started with an initial concept, buying a lot and blueprints. It’s the same in life. You create a written idea of what you want, or where you want to go, and you construct a detailed plan. It seems simple enough. However, only 3% of the people have clear, detailed, written goals.

The house was going to be a four-bedroom, three-bath, two-story, 2,450-square foot structure. Specific details - not generalities. As in life, there are many details involved in building a new home.

In order to take advantage of a view toward the Pacific Ocean, a nice variety of windows were designed into this house. There were also three skylights included. In life, let’s be sure that the windows of our mind face positive views and that we find some ways to look at opportunities with an open mind.

I mentioned that Dictionary Hill is known for being quite rocky. Trying to build here without experience, or good direction, could be a big mistake. Life is the same way, either have some experience in the direction you wish to take or follow someone who has already been successful in that direction.

It took a variety of heavy equipment to level the lot for our house. It was up on a slight hill, with the ground floor of the house to be fifteen feet above street level. Big excavators and bulldozers with jackhammers were necessary to break up some of the large rocks that were in the way of the foundation.

The same thing happens in life. We sometimes have to break apart bad habits that stand in the way of constructing a new life. Being overweight, smoking, using drugs – these can all be stumbling blocks on the way to success.

Each step of the way, beginning with the foundation, Ed hired skilled craftsman to do each job. The same thing applies to life. Successful people know how to hire qualified professionals to help them and guide them.

Since this house was started in the middle of an unusually warm summer, the building of the foundation became a tough and hot process. One day, as the noontime sun was beating down on the construction site, I was helping the workmen with the forms of the foundation. We were working on a segment that was to hug some of the leftover blue granite that the jackhammer had broken.

The sun was beating on the blue granite and bouncing back on our faces. It was like being in an oven with no turnoff valve. There are moments in life just like that. What kept us going was the fact that the sun would set at the end of the day and things would cool down. Thus, we just nailed one more board and one more board and one more board. Any goal, taken one step at a time, is usually achievable.

Once the foundation and slab were poured, the framers spent a couple of days just drawing lines on the slab, laying pieces of wood out and marking them. It seemed like nothing much was happening. However, it really was. They were preparing. Then, on the third day of this process, walls literally sprang up and the first floor framing was quickly completed.

Life is the same way. Successful people plan carefully and thoroughly. Then, when ready, they take action and amazing things happen.

Ed was very well organized in this entire process. The framers were barely done when the plumber, the electrician and other craftsmen went to work. It was like a great symphony. Everyone playing their part and great music resulted.

Ed had a sense of urgency. His view is that “time is money.” The same happens in life. No sense of urgency means that we can miss opportunities. It’s also important to have fun. We had fun on this project.

I learned a lot about a variety of jobs in the process of completing this house. I found that I was much more capable with my hands than I had imagined. How much more could we all accomplish if we simply gave ourselves a chance?

A beautiful new home now sits on Dictionary Hill. I am proud of our hard work and our diligence. I am also amazed at all of the parallels between building houses and building a great life. Perhaps its time for you to either create a great blueprint or revise the one you have. There's probably a great builder in you.

A Daily Building Affirmation

I have created a great blueprint and I’m building a great life.