This article written by Contributing Writer Tom Bowns.

Having grown up in a single parent family with my own father often living several states away, I was somewhat lacking in access to positive male role models. But there were a few that had impact, and I will not forget them. First and foremost was my Big Brother, a man who volunteered his time every weekend to visit with me for the day and be my pal. He taught me that organization in both thought and work space were key to making work efficient and as easy as possible.

I also “borrowed” my friend’s dads as well, spending a few minutes here and there with them on weekends and summer days, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

One particular visit will always remain sharp in my memory, one I consider the crystal moment of clarity when the meaning of doing a job right really sank in completely. While at a friend’s house, I happened to witness his father working on a small construction project in the back yard. At the point I had arrived, he was putting on the finishing touches.

When I believed he was completely done with the job and would stand back to admire his work, I said “it looks great!”

He looked at me and said “But we’re not done yet.”

He and I rounded up his tools and carefully put them away in his workshop. Each tool had its own place. Then he hauled out a waste basket and a scrap bin, and I picked up the scraps while he carefully swept up the sawdust and bent nails.

As he was dumping the last dustpan full of detritus, he said something very simple but very powerful; something that has stuck with me to this day:

“The job’s not over until the cleanup is done.”

Wow. What a great lesson. This is something I’d never really absorbed before, and never in such a simple and concrete way.

Since then, my goal has been to follow that example in what I do, and it is what I hope to pass on to my own son.

How do you teach your kids to take pride in doing a job well all the way until it’s done?

Tom Bowns is a Contributing Writer for Discovering Dad. His personal site is Being Michael’s Daddy. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @michaelsdaddy.

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