1    Let me tell you about my kitchen. Five years ago my wife asked me to take apart and clean a fluorescent light fixture over our stove and countertops.

2    Since the job entailed a ladder, a screwdriver and some manual dexterity, I naturally broke the glass cover on the light while taking it apart. I blamed my wife. If she hadn’t made me clean the fixture, it would not have ended up broken. My wife was thrilled with my attitude and handy work.    I told her I was done. “No more home improvement projects. Hire someone to do them — including the light fixture!”

3    Anyway, the next Saturday I went to the local hardware store to buy a replacement and fix it. Of course, as luck would have it, the size I needed was a special order and not in stock. Before going ahead with the order, I decided to check a few other retail establishments to see if we could get it sooner.

4    Well, things came up. I got busy, and a few weeks led to a month, which led to a year, which led to five years (seriously) with an overhead kitchen light fixture without a glass cover — just four clearly visible fluorescent tubes.

5    Fast-forward five years to when we decided to sell our house. We hired a    home stager to help decorate and recommend improvements to assist in the sale of the home. Home stagers are professionals at finding areas of the home that could impede sales.

6    So this woman walked into my house, entered the kitchen, looked up and said the light fixture is broken.

7    "Yes, it is," I said.

8    "You will need to fix it," she explained.

9    "Sure," I said.

10    She then marched around the house and pointed out all kinds of decoration and design flaws. My wife, who decorated the house, was almost in tears. I didn’t much care other than I knew it would be expensive.

11    At the end of her assault, the home stager sat down with us and went through a variety of improvements. Some we understood and agreed with. And some, while perhaps increasing the value of the home slightly, didn’t seem immediately necessary to us. We all agreed on a master list of to-dos.

12    So we went to work. When all the jobs were finished, the house was redecorated and I have to say it looked great. It was roomier and more comfortable with all the little annoying repairs (like the kitchen light fixture) taken care of.  All the little piles of clutter — gone. I remember saying to my wife that we should have put our house up for sale five years ago, made all the improvements and then just lived there. It really made that much of a difference.

13    The really interesting part is all the recommendations this home stager made were things my wife or I would have never thought of. How a room can dramatically change with some new lighting or a redesign in furniture is what I would have never figured out. We were so used to our house being designed and decorated a certain way, it was impossible to think about it differently. But, she saw it and explained it, and within five minutes it all made sense.

14    How About Your Business?   If you have owned and operated a company for any period of time, I would bet there are plenty of “broken light fixtures” around your business. There are areas of your business that you know need to be fixed, but you have delayed or put off doing so for so long that they are now invisible.

15    To run a business better, it’s important to use some outside perspective like we did with the home stager. The best perspective comes from other successful contractors who you may invite into your company for a friendly critique. It could come from going to another successful shop and watching what it does and then replicating those processes in your business. It could come from a trusted accountant or local business advisor.

16    The point is, you should not be surprised that you can’t conceive of the perfect business model for your company and continually implement improvements all by yourself. You have plenty to do, and a little outside perspective can be just the thing to get you to fix all the broken light fixtures around your business.

1）I told her I was done. 

我告诉她我不干了。

在此上下文中，be done相当于be done forever with sth.，意思是“今后再也不干某事了”。又如: 

I’m done with this boring work; it’s a complete waste of time! 

我再也不干这等麻烦事了；这完全是浪费时间。

She couldn’t hang on forever in such an unhappy marriage — eventually she was done with it. 

她无法一直维持这段不幸福的婚姻—终于把它了断了。

After repeatedly injuring himself playing soccer after work, one evening he returned home and said to his wife, “I’m done — this is way too risky for a middle-aged guy like me.” 

在工余时间踢足球一再受伤后，一天晚上他回家对妻子说：“我不踢了——这对像我这样的中年人来说，实在太危险了。”

2）Of course, as luck would have it, the size I needed was a special order and not in stock. 

可是，不巧的是，我需要的型号是个特殊订单，没有库存。

as luck would have it 意为fortunately或unfortunately，即“幸而/不幸；碰巧/不巧”。 又如：

As luck would have it, he had just left when I arrived. 

我到那儿时，不巧他刚走。

As luck would have it, no one was hurt when the boiler exploded. 

幸运的是，锅炉爆炸时，刚好没伤着人。

3）Fast-forward five years to when we decided to sell our house.

把时间快进5年，我们决定把房子卖掉。

fast-forward 用作名词时，指的是“(录音机的)快进键，快进(功能)”。此句中用作动词，意为“(使)快进，加快”。又如：I hate this song — I’ll fast-forward to the next one. 

我讨厌这首歌，我来快进到下一首。

Fast-forward to Shanghai in the 2020s: Pudong will rival Wall Street — just wait and see! 

将时间快进到21世纪20年代的上海：浦东将与华尔街匹敌——等着瞧吧！

4）Some we understood and agreed with. 

有些方案我们理解并且认同。

此句中some是宾语，前置表示强调。又如：

Of all the colors, red I like the best. red 是宾语，前置表示强调。

5）All the little piles of clutter — gone. 

一堆堆的杂物被清理一空。

此句省略了谓语动词are，使得表达更加简洁、生动而有力。

6）If you have owned and operated a company for any period of time, I would bet there are plenty of “broken light fixtures” around your business. 

如果你拥有并经营一家公司，无论时间长短，我敢说一定有很多“破损的灯座”困扰着它。

此句中broken light fixtures是暗喻，指的是公司经营中一拖再拖、没有解决的问题。其后的一句进一步作出了解释，即：… areas of your business that you know need to be fixed, but you have delayed or put off doing so for so long that they are now invisible.