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Fix Three Broken Things

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Seneca pointed out that people tend to be reflexively stingy with their money, but almost comically wasteful with their time.

There are at least two ways to take this. One is that Seneca thought he used his time better than you and I do, and maybe he did. Another interpretation is that everyday life, for most people, is an untapped gold mine. Certain undone tasks represent huge gains, waiting just a short time away, behind one session of elbow grease. Even ten or fifteen minutes of directed effort, judiciously applied, can improve your life far more than the wages you earn for the same period.

This principle is most obvious when you use that time to fix a broken thing. The broken things in our lives are constantly charging interest. They feel bad to use, or even to witness, and they never run out of bad feeling to impart. Trying to use a pen that barely writes or a vacuum cleaner with poor suction is awful, even if it’s a small-scale awfulness.

Brokenness takes many forms. There are the obvious, literal forms of brokenness: the leaky faucet, the wonky table, the wobbly bike, the drawer that grinds, the door that sticks. There are also the more figurative, more spiritual forms of brokenness: the unanswered letter, the crooked painting, the book with no spot for it on the shelf, the filthy screen protector on your phone that’s peeling off on one corner, the bulletin board covered in outdated reminders.

All broken things, no matter how easily they’re fixed, levy ongoing costs to well-being. They cause psychic injury every time you see or interact with them. The Buddha’s word for human angst or suffering was dukkha, referring to a wagon wheel that turned unevenly around its axle. The wagon still gets you from town to town, but the ride is grinding and bumpy.

Dukkha at the grocery store

There’s no limit to how much broken things cost you. They’ll levy their tax fifty times, five hundred times, as many times as you’ll tolerate. Even if you’re so accustomed to a janky table leg or dead refrigerator light that you no longer think about it, it still detracts from your life, as evidenced by the tremendous relief you feel when it’s finally fixed. Fixing a broken thing feels like somebody opening a window in a sweltering room.  

Quite often the fix doesn’t take very long. There are incredible returns to be had for small investments: fixing a broken thing usually takes a one-time effort, and immediately creates ongoing returns and ends an ongoing tax. Replacing my chipped mirror took less than a half hour, while the leaky faucet took a few hours. Now, a dozen or more times a day, my mood deflects a little towards good instead of a little towards bad. Some fixes are extremely quick — wiping the grey smudges above a light switch takes a few seconds, or a few minutes to do all of them.

Dear Edith; dinner has been a constant battle

Fixing broken things is a better strategy than the traditional self-help goal of trying to fix yourself, as you know if you’ve ever attempted to will yourself into a higher state of overall effectiveness as of any given Monday or January first. If your New Year’s Resolution is already forgotten, or even if it’s not, try out a more definite and powerful idea: fix three broken things. Don’t resolve to do them sometime this year. Do them by the end of the weekend.

Some broken things are out of your control. The broken education system, dishonest political rhetoric, and human folly in general definitely also cause psychic injury, but you have little control over that. Other broken things are expensive to fix, such as the cracked countertop or dented garage door. But many more are immanently fixable, and they’re right in front of you. They’re in your bathroom, in your office, on your desk right now. The pain each one causes is specific and real, and you’re so close to its end. Write them down on a list headlined “broken things,” and fix them.

Like an open window

I fixed at least three broken things last weekend, and I’ll do it again this weekend because it was so easy. The drawer I keep cords and chargers in didn’t open and close smoothly. I threw out some ancient ethernet cables and power supplies to devices I no longer own, and now it’s a joy to open and close. I also pulled everything out of the under-the-sink bathroom cabinet, and only replaced the stuff I wanted there. Same with the shelves where I keep my toiletries. Thirty minutes of working to the tune of a Beck album, and it was all done; it will be a year or more before entropy returns the bathroom to where it was. (If I allow it).

Sometimes we’re so accustomed to brokenness that we no longer perceive it. The two white plastic things that join the handle to my oven door always had a grey-yellow tinge of old grime on them. My usual oven-wiping routine doesn’t remove it, so I’m accustomed to ignoring it. The other day, while I was doing some cleaning in the “fix broken things” mindset, I thought I’d try a little harder to find a genuine fix.  One minute of scrubbing with a wet magic eraser and they’re like new.

Life with low friction

Now that it’s clean, I can see that it bothered me every time I used the stove. The mind can admit the harm only now that it’s gone. I think this is common. Perhaps the human brain evolved some coping mechanism that works like that: the mind despises some condition, but resigns to it in order to get on with other things, backgrounding your pain but still registering it.

But the moment that thing gets fixed, the relief is surprisingly deep; you were bearing more pain than you knew. And so close to its end the whole time!

***

Photos by Yehor Tulinov, David Cain, Mika Baumeister

{ 32 Comments }

Joseph Mackay January 29, 2025 at 11:28 am

One way to expand on this concept is organization and labeling. If you attack your old cords and power supplies and organize them into groups, or hit them with a label maker, it’ll serve a similar function.

An organized/labeled system for food storage in a pantry or refrigerator will save a lot of time (and expiring food).

Sometimes a thing isn’t broken, but it can still be mended.

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David Cain January 29, 2025 at 2:39 pm

This is what I ended up doing with the electronics drawer. The cords are all in big labeled Ziplocs. I can easily find what I need and nothing gets stuffed in there without knowing where it’s going.

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Chris Q January 31, 2025 at 2:42 pm

Fixing things is what I would call “curating your environment”.

It relates to your mindset and your mindfullness.

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Alice H January 29, 2025 at 12:00 pm

It’s odd that often we’re surrounded by broken things that are actually really straightforward to sort out – but it takes us ages to get round to doing that. Why the inertia, especially when the rewards of ridding our lives of these sources of friction are so great? Thanks for a very interesting, helpful article – I’ll be thinking about why the heck I don’t do this more often as I work through sorting out my many broken things, three at a time.

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David Cain January 29, 2025 at 2:41 pm

I guess in modern society we are surrounded by tons of things, and by odds some of them are going to be broken at any given time. There’s always a fly in the ointment, so to speak, so it may not seem like it necessarily needs immediate action.

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Tim January 29, 2025 at 12:50 pm

Ha, I was reading a similar idea to this early this week. In was along the idea of: Fixing your annoyances in life is a better return on happiness than increasing your spending on existing things.

I can agree. I painted my family room last week. It faces North and was far too dark of a colour for the space but we ignored it for 19 years. Now that is bright yellow I literally smile every time I walk into it. Yes, fix the little things but I suggest also taking a weekend a month to work on some of the bigger items as well. It really does make life so much easier and smoother with the little things dealt with in a timely manner.

Have a great week all!

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David Cain January 29, 2025 at 2:42 pm

Good call on the big things too. It’s amazing how a coat of paint (literal or figurative) has such a huge effect on the mind.

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Dave Sykes January 30, 2025 at 6:18 am

Tim – what were you reading on fixing your annoyances. I like the connection that you’ve made. I call these things “micro-debts”. You always feel like you owe something – I “have to”, or I “need to” which is like carrying around a burdensome debt. It remains until you get it done, i.e. pay it off.

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Tim January 30, 2025 at 2:01 pm

Took me a bit to find it…just a small part of a somewhat off topic blog post. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2025/01/16/mmm-2024-spending/

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Joe January 29, 2025 at 2:24 pm

“…backgrounding your pain but still registering it.”

Just that one little phrase packed a wallop for me.

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Brian January 29, 2025 at 2:34 pm

Not exactly broken but bearing a psychic cost: I put little coloured dots on the tops of plugs so I know which way they go into the receptacle (no more “third time charmed”), and on the lids of spice jars so I know where to flick them open. I also used them on USB sticks when we used those.
I have designated Fridays as Just Do It day. If I see something or think of something that I need to attend to, rather than putting it off, I Just Do It. Needless to say, that philosophy has leaked into the rest of the week.

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Stephanie January 29, 2025 at 5:22 pm

Just Do It Day is also a good idea! One of my challenges is that I know I remove friction when I fix little things every day, clean some part of the house every day, process mail every day, declutter my desk every day, do either strength training or yoga every day, walk the dog every day, cook healthy meals every day, etc etc. Put together, all these things that make life better can take up the whole day, and this creates another type of friction — frustration over having to choose between getting little stuff done and working on bigger, more satisfying projects. Designating a day for a certain type of task might help with this a bit.

Really liked this article, David, despite what I just wrote!

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David Cain January 29, 2025 at 2:43 pm

“I put little coloured dots on the tops of plugs so I know which way they go into the receptacle”

Oh man this is a good one

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Joy January 29, 2025 at 6:14 pm

I really wish this concept applied to cleaning. I just spent ages cleaning the bathroom and I know I only have a few hours left to enjoy it before everyone comes home and messes it up again. And I don’t plan to spend any of those hours in the bathroom!

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David Cain January 30, 2025 at 8:00 am

It can for things that take a long time to get dirty or messed up again. Things like closets, cabinets, shelves, etc, can take a long time to return to their full entropic state. Kitchen counter, not so much :)

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maryellen January 30, 2025 at 2:33 pm

I felt better about washing dishes when I realized that I was not washing them so they would be clean. I was washing them so they could be used again. Maybe that goes for cleaning the bathroom, too.
David’s post reminds me that putting dishes in the dishwasher or hand-washing them right away saves me the psychic pain of seeing and working around a counter full of dirty dishes.

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Heather January 31, 2025 at 5:52 am

Maryellen, what you said reminded me of a great book called “How to Keep House While Drowning” by KC Davis, who also posts on Instagram. Her pragmatic take is that cleaning and tidying are “morally neutral” and purely functional ie your home is there to serve you, not the other way around.

Brian January 31, 2025 at 1:45 pm

Could you enrol others in your household in keeping the bathroom clean? Perhaps assign everybody one day a week where they’re responsible for cleaning the bathroom? I wipe the sink every time I use the bathroom so it never really needs doing, but then I live alone. This may not be a hill to die on!

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Linda January 29, 2025 at 8:56 pm

I’ve been a procrastinator forever and I’ve been in a funk for a long while since a loved one died. This article really speaks to me. I got up and did some small things today that made me feel better. It’s not so much fixing what’s broken for me as it is stopping the chronic putting off until later. Each time I did something I got a little jolt of relief/pleasure. Thanks, David for an excellent article.

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Tobe Harris January 30, 2025 at 10:36 am

Linda, thank you for your comment. I feel that you were describing me. It’s nice to know I’m not alone both in my funk and my “recovery.” I very much enjoyed this article and immediately subscribed for more. This is just what I need right now. Thank you, David.

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Nicola January 30, 2025 at 12:35 am

This really spoke to me. I’d been putting off getting some repairs done to a damaged wall in my spare room. When I finally got it sorted (thanks to my nephew in law being a carpenter) I almost cried with relief. I hadn’t realised what a weight it had been on my subconscious until it was gone.

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Penny January 30, 2025 at 1:58 am

Yes,yes and yes! Tackling some mending this weekend.

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Julianne Mason January 30, 2025 at 5:04 am

This spoke to me also. Just doing small things makes me feel good. I have been decluttering while I am inside during this bad weather . When spring comes I will be a little ahead of the game. Thank you. What you said was an aha moment.

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Karen January 30, 2025 at 9:39 am

As a die hard procrastinator, I find that thinking about “being kind to my future self” as a way to motivate me to do those little things that make life easier/run smoother but are also easy to put off.

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Andy M January 30, 2025 at 12:02 pm

A great, motivating article and reminder to make a goal feel achievable (it’s only 3 things). The comments from the community are just as helpful. I like the dots to help attach something correctly first time, brave souls sharing they’ve been in a funk/grief, and doing it for future self.
Someone mentioned “inertia” – sometimes it just takes doing 1 of the fixes to give enough pleasure & motivation to do another.
The article encouraged me to list my 3 broken things – my biggest dukka is a rattle in the door of my car trunk. I’ve tried fixing it before but it started rattling again. Turns out a small bolt gets loose and falls into the lower section – I’m going to glue it on this time!! Then I asked my wife for another thing to fix – “replace the kitchen flooring” she replied!! I told her no, its only small fixes I’m allowed to do at the moment!! Ha!
Keep up the great work. How about adding a thumbs up/like button for each comment? It feels like a community hear and I keep wanting to give a small thanks to a lot of the comments.

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Tara January 30, 2025 at 9:18 pm

I am working on a very large decluttering project that often feels overwhelming and makes me want to stop, but I am forcing myself to keep going and power through, as I know how much happier I will feel when it is no longer weighing me down psychologically. I take a day or two of rest occasionally to help me gather the strength to continue but not lose momentum. Thanks for another great article!

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Heather January 31, 2025 at 5:41 am

This is spooky David. Just before reading your post, I was looking at some long broken things of my own and musing, wouldn’t it be great if there was a “Fix Broken Things Day?” where people could post before and after pics and cheer each other on? Of course it would be far better if I just got on and fixed one broken thing without waiting for a worldwide drive, so thanks for the nudge. You are so right, it takes up psychic space every time you see the damn thing.

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Susan January 31, 2025 at 9:11 pm

I love fixing things. The psychological benefits are huge in comparison with the cost in terms of effort. When I can’t figure out how to start on a big project, I look for something small to work on. For one thing, even simple repairs tend to engage my mind because I have to figure out how to do it. I find this preps me for bigger tasks, and takes my mind off other things that are bothering me. Thanks for raising this topic David, and encouraging others to enjoy the benefits of mending.

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OCD Guy February 2, 2025 at 1:38 pm

Question: Did you mean “But many more are IMMINENTLY fixable, and they’re right in front of you.” or did you really mean to write “immanently”? And perhaps you “fixed at *LEAST* three different things last weekend”?

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David Cain February 3, 2025 at 8:29 am

I meant immanently. Imminently would also work but that’s not what I meant.

There was a missing “least” yes

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Nick February 6, 2025 at 1:00 pm

David, your blog post inspired me to take action and today I repaired a door lock that was broken for more than six months. I can’t believe I’ve suffered for months and months a repair that took me less than an hour!

And you know – it’s that voice inside my head that always tries to convince me – Don’t do it! It will be too difficult! You’ll run into all sorts of unforeseen problems! It will take too much time! You can’t do it on your own! You don’t have the right tools…

Oh, man, I get exhausted just by sharing these thoughts :)

What a mess is the human mind! Unbelievable!

Anyway, I already know what’s gonna be the next thing to fix.
Thanks for sharing your personal struggles with all of us.

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Fleur February 13, 2025 at 12:57 pm

I agree with the benefits of fixing things. However, there is a dark side to it. There are times when I notice so many broken things around me (most of them really unimportant like “I haven’t labelled my keys with my phone number”) that I can’t concentrate on the task at hand. Sometimes during weekends I spend hours trying to fix small things (clean the sink, label all my sheets, do laundry), and I end up mentally exhausted, and wondering if it was worth it. Especially for the really small tasks that don’t matter that much, like organizing the pantry, but keep weighing on my mind. I believe that when I get too overwhelmed it is less a sign that I have to get fixing things and more a sign that I need rest. I wonder if anyone else relates

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