Follow the Instructions

When something is broken, you need to troubleshoot and pinpoint the actual issue. Otherwise, you might spend too much time trying to fix a problem that wasn’t even there to begin with. Let me give you an example from my own garage.

As loyal Carp’s Corner readers know, one of my favorite chores around the house is working in the yard. Mowing, edging, trimming, weeding, and anything else to make my lawn look awesome brings me a lot of joy and satisfaction. So when my blower started sounding funny the other day, I knew I needed to find a solution. It was noisy, vibrating violently, and putting out minimal airflow.

Sure, I could have run to Lowe’s or Home Depot and bought a new one. But instead, I took a few deep breaths and started looking for the issue. Was something loose? Could the battery be malfunctioning?

I pulled up a YouTube video and found someone dealing with the exact same problem. Turns out, one of the fan blades had snapped. It seemed like a small issue, but that one broken blade (out of 14) was just enough to throw everything off. Or in this case, blow it up.

I ordered the replacement part from Amazon for under $12, and it arrived the next morning. After watching the video one more time, I felt confident enough to give it a shot.

Less than ten minutes later, everything was back together without any leftover screws on the table. I smiled as I snapped in the battery and fired it up.

It sounded "purr"-fect and worked almost like new.

I was back in action, and my honey-do list didn’t stand a chance.

So the next time something gets out of whack, sounds off, or just isn’t working right, before you throw your hands up or get frustrated, take a deep breath and follow the instructions.

Chances are, they were written by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.