Skip to main content

Wedding Business Solutions Podcast with Alan Berg CSP - Don't Paint The HousePodcast Transcript – Don’t Paint The House

I know, it’s a strange title for a podcast episode on a platform called Wedding Business Solutions. This is actually a true story that I first shared in a keynote presentation and my book “Your Attitude for Success”. This story shows how something as simple as my friend need to paint her house can teach you how to tackle your daunting business and personal projects. Listen to this 8-minute episode, hear the story, and start accomplishing more.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

Below is a full transcript. If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at [email protected] or contact me via textuse the short form on this page, or call 732.422.6362

Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com


– “Don’t paint the house.” That’s a crazy title for a podcast episode, but it’s an actual story, a real story from someone that I used to work with. Listen to this episode and find out how it can help you be more productive in your personal life and in your business.

– Hi, it’s Alan Berg with the “Wedding Business Solutions” podcast. And today I want to share a story with you that will hopefully get you to do more things than you’re doing now and not get stuck by looking at the big picture and saying, “Hey, I can’t do this.” It’s a story I call “Don’t Paint the House.” And it’s a true story. It’s actually a true story of a friend of mine that I worked with at The Knot. And Ellie was great on my team, and she had bought a house, and it was really great that she bought the house and she would always complain to me that, “I need to paint the house, and I just don’t have time.” And after we would talk about business I would say, “So, you know, how’s the house coming? How’s the house painting?” And she’s like, “Ah, gosh, I need to paint the house. I just don’t have the time.” And this would go on for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks.

So one day, I think it was a Thursday, I said, you know, after we talked business, I said, “So how’s the house coming along?” She goes, “Oh, I need to paint the house. I just don’t have the time.” And I told her, I said, “So don’t paint the house.” She said, “No, but it needs painting. It’s an old house and it needs painting. You know, I want to change some colors and stuff.” I said, “Right. But you said you don’t have the time.” She said, “Right.” I said, “Okay, so don’t paint the house.” And she was confused, and I understood why. I said, “It’s Thursday. Between now and Sunday, could you paint one wall in one room?” And she was a little confused by the question. I said, “It’s Thursday, right? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.” She has a daughter. “So you could do this after work. You could do it on the weekend. Between now and Sunday, could you paint one wall in one room?” And she said, “Well, you know, I need to patch and plaster first before I paint.” I said, “Okay. But still, it’s Thursday. Could you patch and plaster and paint one wall in one room between now and Sunday?” And she said, “Well, you know, the ceiling’s kind of tall, and I don’t know that I have a ladder tall enough to get up to the top.”

And I was like, Okay, so you hear where this is going, right? All the reasons why you can’t as opposed to why you can. So I said, “Okay, it’s too tall and you can’t get up there, you don’t have a ladder.” I quickly went onto homedepot.com and I found the long pole that you can put the roller on or a pad painter, and you can get right up to the edge without even using a ladder. And I sent her a link, and I said “Okay, between now and Sunday, could you patch, plaster, and paint one wall in one room?” And she said, “Well, you know, I don’t have any paint and I don’t have any drop cloths.” And I said, “Okay. So what if today you went out and you got drop cloths and paint and rollers and whatever, and plaster, whatever. And then tomorrow you patched the wall up, and then it was dry by Saturday, and then you could sand it and put the first coat on, and then Sunday, you could put the second coat on.” I said, “You could have one wall done, right?”

But see, she couldn’t, because she didn’t have the paint yet. She didn’t have the plaster yet. She didn’t have the rollers or the Spackle or the ladder or the pole or whatever it was. See, you can’t do this all in one stage. You have to do this in stages. Now, sometimes we get lucky. We get up Saturday morning, we go to the store, we get all the supplies, we come back, we patch, whatever, the afternoon it’s done, we paint, and there we go. And this applies to just about anything in our lives. You can’t make a new website in a day. Well, you probably could, but maybe not a good one. But really it’s a set of stages, because you have to get the photos ready. You have to get the text that you’re going to need for that. You have to get any links or any other things that you want to have on there, or any other content, before you can actually build the site. You have to get the domain name. You have to get it registered. You have to get hosting, right, all these things. Now, you might be able to do all that in one day. But you have to gather all that stuff together.

So the point of “Don’t Paint the House” is how can you break a project down into manageable pieces so you can do something as opposed to doing nothing? Same thing I’m doing with my podcast. Some days I get on a roll and I’ll record two, three, four or five different episodes. And then days will go by and I won’t record at all. But I had to go through the stages. First I had to get it set up. So thank you, Richie. Richie Steadman is my producer. And Richie has got me all set up, told me where I had to go, but I had to do some things. I had to get some stuff set up on Buzzsprout and we had to get up on Apple and on Google and on Stitcher and on the Spotify and on iHeart radio. And then I’m doing the YouTube separately from that, and the videos.

All of these things are little pieces, but you have to get these little pieces done to get the whole done. The key is to not look at it as the whole project and get paralyzed by, “Oh my gosh, there’s so much to do.” And then you do nothing. The key is to do something. It’s the way I taught myself Spanish. I just, every day I would just try to do a little bit. I’m doing that with French now. Every day I do a little bit. I did Rosetta Stone. I did Pimsleur, I did some other things, and now I’m doing Duolingo. And every day I’m on that app for at least a little bit, at least 10, 15 minutes, sometimes for an hour or more when I’m walking outside or when I’m working out, I’m trying to do French lessons. Because I could choose. I could choose to listen to music. I could listen to somebody’s podcast. I could watch TV. I could do none of those. Or I could do that.

The key is to break it down into manageable pieces, and then you’re working forward towards the goal. Because you could be standing still, going backwards, or moving forward, and I want you to be moving forward. So what is your wall? What wall can you paint today that’ll get you towards the bigger whole? Or better yet, you know you need to paint that wall. I’m talking metaphorically, of course. Can you go out and get the little chips so you have the colors? Can you buy the drop cloths and the rollers and the trays and everything that you’ll need once you’re ready? Can you have it ready so when you have some time, you have an hour and you can go do it, just like I’m doing this podcast right now? It happens to be I’m recording this on a Friday afternoon. It’s almost six o’clock. I got on a roll with some podcasts and I said, “You know what? I’m gonna do this one right now.” I have this thought here, I’m gonna do it now. Now I might not edit it today. It may not get edited for a week or more. But it’s already recorded, and you can’t edit it until it’s recorded. So think about “Don’t Paint the House.” Think about what can you do today? What wall can you do to get it ready? Get yourself motivated, do something. That’s what I’m hoping for you.

I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected]. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2021 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

Is it procrastination or indecision - Alan Berg, CSP

Is it procrastination or indecision? – Podcast Transcript

| Blog | No Comments
Is it procrastination or indecision?  It’s frustrating when you get all of the good signals from the customer that they like what you’re offering, but they just won’t commit! Thanks…
What do you do when two customers want the same date? - Alan Berg, CSP

What do you do when two customers want the same date? – Podcast Transcript

| Blog | No Comments
What do you do when two customers want the same date?     Here’s another listener suggestion, this time from Euan in the UK. He had two couples asking about the…
Do you haveneed a strategic plan - Alan Berg, CSP

Kristin Arnold – Do you have/need a strategic plan? – Podcast Transcript

| Blog | No Comments
Kristin Arnold – Do you have/need a strategic plan?  You’ve probably been told that you need a business plan, or a marketing plan, but do you have a Strategic Plan?…
How do you define success - Alan Berg, CSP

How do you define success? – Podcast Transcript

| Blog | No Comments
How do you define success?  I’ve had this one on my list for a while to talk about on the podcast. When I work with businesses, large and small, one…

Want to talk? Call/text +1.732.422.6362

Share via