I often do work around my house, fixing, redoing and maintaining stuff, as do most of us.

When I moved and bought this house in March 2003 I found that every time it rained water ran under the garage door. Typically, I’m a jerry-rigger, especially fixing stuff around my home, but I thought I would do it “right” this time.

Over the next few years I spent over a thousand dollars on drywells, barriers, etc., but was still getting water under the door.

Having run out of affordable do-it-right options, I went back to jerry-rigging and usd a clear, vinyl shower curtain, tape, and a few bricks—no water under the door since then and I just check the plastic each fall.

This got me thinking, how much is too much?

How “right” does a fix need to be?

How “fixed” does a challenge/problem need to be to count as solved?

Every day we all face a myriad of challenges, any number of which may upgrade (downgrade?) to the status of problem in the blink of an eye, so this isn’t a casual question.

What do you do?

Managers, like the rest of us, have their own routine for evaluating and deciding on solutions, corrections and fixes.

I’m not saying you should change yours, but I am suggesting that you give thought to what end results you really need in order to avoid overkill in your decisions.

In other words: Does it need to be “right” on some cosmic yardstick—or does it just need to work.

Your comments—priceless

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I like stories of people who make lemonade out of the lemons that life hands out, not just the major rising from adversity kind, but the small triumphs. I thought I’d share some recent ones with you.I’ve written several posts about Mark Sanford’s excessive hypocrisy, but what about Jenny Sanford? Considering the lemon she married she is doing just fine.Lemons often go together with love, but is falling in love with your cousin still the lemon it once was? Apparently not, and before you start thinking about genetically messed up kids, remember that we’re not talking about generations of interbreeding, just the occasional accident of birth and love.Guys have little blue pills to deal with the lemons they often receive as they get closer to the sunset, but what about women? They actually have a higher rate of those lemons than guys do, but no one has bothered coming up with a little pink pill for them. But there is help, Virginia, and it’s not Santa Clause.Finally, there is the NY Times weekly lemon to lemonade love story. I make a point of reading them for the lift they give—here is the most recent.(PS If you need a culture fix today you can find it here.)Your comments—priceless Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAILImage credit:  nono farahshila on flickr