Leakage

“Broken Valves”

Leakage

Sometimes I know things aren’t working right, but I just don’t want to make the effort to make a correction.  It’s what I call leakage.  I was reminded to this principle this spring as I started up the irrigation system at my ranch, Salty Shores Ranch.

I turned the key to have water begin to flow through the pipes a little over one month ago.  Then I began a walking tour of the property and saw what I already knew.  I had at least one leaking pipe.

It had been leaking for the past two years.  But, it was under ground and I didn’t know exactly where it was.  I only knew its general area.  It would be a lot of work to find the leak and then fix it, so I left it alone.

The leak was now quite large and it appeared to be filling valve boxes down the line more than one hundred twenty feet away.  It had the ability to do a lot of damage, so I pulled up my pants, grabbed a shovel, called my dog and began to search the ground for the right spot to dig.

The truth is that it really didn’t take too much effort to find the leak, perhaps fifteen minutes or so.  It took only another fifteen minutes to solve the problem.  The water stopped and I felt good.  That is until a few days later when I noticed that valve boxes continued to be full of water!

Irrigation valves can be difficult to trouble shoot.  They have several moving parts and electricity to make the automatic type turn on and off.  There have been a lot of times when I’ve been stumped on a problem and I usually do everything I can to avoid digging around valves to replace them.  It’s a lot of work.  But, in this case I’d turned a blind eye for a least a couple of years.

When I flipped the switch for my sprinklers to begin their work my eyes could no longer be blind.  The pressure was so low all the heads were not popping up.  It was finally time to solve what ever the problems were.  I went and purchased some new valves.

I arrived back and picked one valve from the box and walked out to dig.  Then I spent several hours installing the new valve and working to figure out why it wasn’t solving the problem.  To make a long story much shorter, I found the new valve to be faulty and replaced it with another one.  This time I installed it in a step-by-step process so I could do my trouble shooting along the way.  In the end, it worked well and I followed the same process to install another one in a much shorter period.  Here’s what I learned about leakage and how you can stop leakage to make sure you’re getting the most out of your life.

Lots of times leakages occur under the surface.  You know that things are not going as well as they could be, but you’re just afraid to dig into it because you either don’t want to take the time or like me, you’re afraid of what you’ll find.  In my case I spent years dealing with issues I could have solved in much less time. Had I dealt with the problems immediately I would have been able to live with more peace of mind and would have done much less work in the long run.

When I finally decided to solve the issues directly I had to do things different than before.  I had to introduce something new to the equation in order to make the most impact.  Still, while it appeared as if the new solution was going to be a good one, it wasn’t!  It took me some time and effort to figure that out.

By the time I figured it out, I have to tell you I was tempted to quit working on the problem and just live the way I’d been living.  But, I didn’t.  I pressed forward and introduced a different solution that worked perfectly.  By that time, I had developed a check list that would allow me to “test” my solution at every step of the way so I could make sure it was a perfect solution before I completed all of the work.  It’s a process I can use over and over again now.

In fact, I used the same process to install another new valve on the same day and the repair took me hours less time to complete.  Now I know I have a great system that will allow me to stop leakage in a reasonable amount of time.

The whole reason I want to stop leakage is so I can get the most out of my efforts in every area of my life.  Right now I’m sitting where I can see sprinkler heads working at full capacity for the first time in years.  My yield will go up and I feel comfortable and relaxed knowing that my efforts have paid off and things are working smoothly and operating as they should.

Life doesn’t always flow smoothly.  We all have leakages.  The first step in having an improved life is to make a decision to cause a change to happen.  Second, select a good solution and make use of it.  At the same time, make sure you develop a systematic approach so you can make sure the solution is the right one for you.  At the point you determine it isn’t working, abandon it and make an adjustment.  When it works, you’ll know.  You’ll be getting full flow, the most you can out of your life in any situation.

Just know that external factors can still make it appear as if you aren’t getting all the flow you need.  I like to call such an event a “head wind.”  Don’t let head winds fool you.  They are always temporary.  When you’ve stopped your leakages you’ll still perform effectively.  You’ll just be hampered a little, or a lot.  But when the wind quits or shifts your momentum will increase.

Knowing this will allow you to live with anticipation and excitement.  Leakages literally drain your life away.  Don’t hesitate to focus on them immediately so you can move forward will the full flow life can offer you.