Working Together

Zach and I have been working on our closets in the evening after we get home from work. We have been trying to install a second pole in the closets so that there is a lower rack for pants and an upper one for shirts.

This process has necessitated removing the current pole and shelf in each closet and repositioning them to allow for a second pole. This doesn't seem like it would be a difficult project, and it really isn't, but the difficulty of a task is never an issue when Zach and I are working together. The issue is always our lack of cohesive teamwork.

Our methods for getting a job done usually involve the following:

• Me trying to tell Zach how to do something when I think that he is putting in to much effort, or that his technique will result in having to do it all over again

• Zach getting angry at me for trying to correct him, which results in him completely ignoring me and doing something wrong (or luckily, sometimes he does get it right)

• I step in and try to do it myself

and we never seem to get the job done.

However, our closet project was different. We worked as a team! We had some setbacks, but we never argued or got angry, and we got it done! I was truly amazed. I only changed my normal tactics slightly in that I tried not to tell him how to do everything. In turn, he changed his normal tactics and actually listened to me and didn't argue.

This is the first time that we have started and finished a project without arguing. This is a major mile stone. We are becoming a better team.

I think we are going to make it after all.