In November of 2016 Mr. Money Mustache (required reading) retweeted a post by Elon Musk that said “Don’t complain. Build”.

Create, design, join or invent a way to make your situation better. Is your local school system mediocre and you can’t afford private school? Get involved and improve it.

Us amateurs work really hard to create something pretty mediocre only to have to do it again. And again. I had to install the disposal in our kitchen three times before I got it right. This is 30 minutes of work for an average plumber. It took me two weekends. I don’t care.  Honey badger doesn’t care either. It works, it has been there 5 years and I saved $300 in labor. Plus, I prevented a plumber from having to do something basic. And I *really* know a lot about disposals now. When it had a problem last month I was able to fix it really quickly

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By JanekpfeiferOwn work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

without a reference manual. I even remembered where the stupid screw that came loose was located. How could I not after spending 20 hours under the sink looking at something with only 3 parts?

Critical thought is an important skill. Identifying what is wrong and how things could be better is important as well. But this must be followed up by action. Repeated attempts, slow progress actions is the grit of making stuff go. Posting a complaint hidden as a comment revealing how insightful you are doesn’t actually do anything.

Don’t complain.

Build.

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