It did for me, but sadly, I endured 259,200 minutes when I could have made a change in 5 minutes.
It started back in January with my 2010 Honda CR-V with almost 200,000 miles on it. It’s my “work” car. It takes me to work and takes me home. It’s filled with random youth ministry equipment ranging from dodgeballs to RGB lights used in the last stage design for a retreat.
It’s honestly a catch-all for me.
For being 17 years old, it gets the job done, but things are starting to fall apart. Like the key fob.
It began to wear away, and the plastic was breaking off. Every time I turned the key, the metal key would pop out, and I would have to reposition the plastic and hold it just right to start and stop the car.
At first, it wasn’t that big of a deal. For a while, I just slapped on some good ol’ fix-it-all duct tape. It felt better, but eventually it would get all sticky from the Louisiana heat. The unlock buttons were covered, so I would always hit the wrong ones, and the tape became loose often.
Months kept passing, and the key got worse and worse until eventually the key would not even stay in the fob. Even with tape, it would still fall out. I would scrape my thumbs trying to keep it together as I cranked my old egg-shaped rust bucket of a car.
This key was a constant irritation every time I used the car. Then I would put it in my pocket and forget about it until I grabbed it again, and I would revisit the same frustrating feeling all over again.
While eating lunch at home, I decided to fix it for good.
I grabbed some half-dried JB Weld I had left over from another project. (I’ll share about that project another time... it’s another “learning” experience I’ve had.)
I got the key in the fob, mixed this two-part epoxy JB Weld together, molded it, shaped it, then got my wife’s hair dryer (shhh, don’t tell her) and helped it cure solid.
I believe the total time it took me was 4 and a half minutes.
That’s it.
4 and a half minutes of time that solved a 6-month-long problem that caused inconvenience and frustration daily.
I looked at the finished key and had mixed emotions of satisfaction and disappointment at the same time.
Satisfied, for sure! I fixed the problem.
Disappointed nonetheless, because it took me so long to do so little.
This got me thinking: What are some other things in my life that I keep dealing with and ignoring that could be such a simple fix, but I never take the initiative to get them done?
A simple 5 minutes made my day much more enjoyable every time I reached for my keys.
What are some other broken keys in my life that I’m ignoring?
Things I keep walking past. Conversations I need to have. Small irritations I never settle. An email I need to send. A decision I have made but haven’t acted on.
I spent way too long living with a small irritation because, in the moment, it did not feel important enough.
So I tolerated it and ignored it.
A 5-minute problem took up 6 months of my life.
I recognize that not all of life’s problems can be fixed in 5 minutes. Life doesn’t work that way. (I wish it did.)
But what if the things we have been ignoring and pushing off could make a big change if we just started to do them and fix them instead of ignoring them?
Just deciding to deal with it can make the difference.
5 minutes may not change your life, but it can change it just a little.
And maybe that little bit is just enough to keep moving forward.
Stay grounded. Live intentionally. Keep moving.