Have you ever had your closet collapse? Have you ever had your closet collapse two times in three weeks?

I’ve written before about my love of shopping and fashion. The dark underbelly of those passions is that I have a lot of clothes. I’m not a hoarder, but as I invest in nicer, more timeless pieces, it becomes harder to part with certain items. The result is three closets and three garment racks full of clothes. A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with my husband Matt when he said he heard a loud crash. He went outside thinking a large tree branch had hit our roof. Nope. After searching the house, he found the culprit. The closet rack in our home office, one of the three housing my clothes, had collapsed. It was a mess. One I wanted to clean up quickly.
Matt, ever the engineer, wanted to do it right. I pushed him instead to simply rehang the inexpensive wire closet insert with more reinforcements. He did so as I sorted through my clothes ultimately donating four large bags. I considered it a win.
That was until last week when I went to hang up a jacket only to find the closet rack had collapsed again. This time Matt insisted on doing the job right, and now I’m the owner of the world’s strongest closet.
The entire ordeal gets me thinking about how many times in life I’ve rushed something — both at home and at work, only to have to redo it. Maybe it’s working in a deadline driven industry or the fact that I’m an impatient person. Whatever the reason, it’s not good.
While it may take a bit longer, doing something right the first time is always the right call — for your brand, your business and your closet.
Seeking inspiration on how to build a culture of doing it right the first time, I came across an inc.com article with great advice. Here are my favorite takeaways:
Build and maintain a culture of responsibility: From the article, “Ensuring that a project is done right the first time places a tremendous amount of responsibility on those involved.” The expert interviewed in the piece said at his company there is no such thing as “somebody else’s problem.”
This is a great motto to implement within an organization. It’s certainly something we strive for at View Newspaper Group. If a graphic designer sees a misspelling in an ad or one of our administrative team members notices a typo in a news article, they speak up. No matter which department they work in, everyone on our team takes pride in our newspapers and that helps us build a culture of responsibility.
Study the project extensively: Before swinging a hammer in our closet Matt took a million measurements, did a ton of research, drew at least five sketches and spent two hours at the hardware store finding the right materials to build a closet that would last. As an engineer this is his mode of operation. As a wife I roll my eyes, but as a professional I admire his ability to be focused and know each angle of a relativity simple (for him) home DIY project.
The aim is to use this same methodology when approaching any project at home or work.
Constantly communicate with your team: The article says it best, “Knowledge is useless in a team scenario unless it’s shared. Leaving anyone out of the communication could lead to unexpected mistakes when the pressure gets cranked up.”
Have a contingency plan … for everything: I started event planning about 13 years ago, and this was one of the first lessons I learned. When it comes to events you only get one chance to do it right. If your event is outside and it rains, what will you do? What if the photographer doesn’t show up? What if the caterer is late? Our team has to think of everything and for good reason. From the article, “By thinking through every possible contingency and solution in advance (teams) save time and stress when things actually do go wrong, even if it is a scenario they didn’t expect.”
Learn from your mistakes: This is my own tip. I wouldn’t be writing this, and you wouldn’t be reading it, if we had not made the mistake of doing it wrong the first time. Take note of what went wrong and why. The answer for me is usually that I waited too long to get started on a project and in turn rushed to the finish line. But mistakes also come from not following the above tips. Admit the error, and do better next time.
What is your advice for doing it right the first time? Email me at ecaswell@mihomepaper.com.
Emily Caswell is the Brand Manager for VIEW Group, the branding division of View Newspaper Group.