Have
you ever tried to avoid something simply because you knew if you
could avoid it long enough you wouldn’t need to do it?
Yeah.
Same here.
My
favorite job that falls into such consideration is shoveling snow.
Usually by March, I’m so fed up with the white stuff in the driveway
that anything under two-inches of accumulation is immediately
ignored. Sun will take care of it. A rise in temperature will
take care of it. Tomorrow’s rain… our walking for the mail or
driving the cars… something will take care of it. If
I can avoid it long enough, I won’t need to shovel it.
The
problems? Well… consider snow… and then consider something like
an oil delivery. It’s never just an inch or two that falls overnight.
It’s either a dusting or break out the boots. Oil company usually
likes some type of a path if the snow is deep enough. I mean,
I know… and you know… and even they know… that there
will always be an inch or two (or three) on the ground to be trudged
across and dealt with for an early February delivery. But, if
you’re a thoughtful and truly decent person, you pay attention
to the oil level in the tank and watch the weather forecast, and
if you need a delivery then you make sure there is a path to get
to the pipe on the side of the house.
You
can’t always just ignore snow, with the result being that it goes
away.
Part
of the fun though is the timing of the process.
Friend
of mine used to have what he referred to as the two-weekend review
policy.
Now,
it didn’t last two weekends for every project. It wasn’t an exact
length of time. It… well… here’s how it began…
Several
years ago, he was building a shed in his yard. His wife mentioned
that she thought it would look good painted white. He didn’t care
if was painted white, purple or with multi-colored polka dots.
If she wanted a white shed, what he wanted was peace and quiet,
so white paint was fine with him. Next day, she left on a trip
to visit her sister for about a week. Having been excused from
the travel—a blessing for which he was beyond grateful—he decided
to use two nice days while she was away to finish building the
shed and paint it.
She
got back and hadn’t finished saying hello before starting a story
about how she saw a place near her sister’s where the shed had
been matched to the shutters on the house to create some kind
contrast that still matched, and she wondered what he thought
of painting the shed a forest green.
If
it was just the shed, or more precisely a one-time thing, he wouldn’t
have cared at all. But it wasn’t. Experience had taught him otherwise.
There would be a first presentation… some consideration and tinkering…
some adjustments… then a second presentation. And nothing about
either presentation would allow for a simplicity of work. It was
one option of the other. And now you probably see it, her arrive
at his hit the pause button for a bit approach. Let the idea develop.
The two-weekend review.
For
him that unnecessary work idea was something completely different.
It wasn’t about avoiding something so nicely that nothing needed
to be done. He was avoiding having to do things twice.
From
time to time I try to apply his approach to things. It works.
Hitting pause is ok. Especially when I’m wondering if the effort
is actually going to be worth it.
Rake
the leaves today when there is a storm coming tomorrow and more
leaves to fall, or, head out there later for just one day of raking
instead of two?
Worth
considering.
A
few months ago, Terry and I were plotting out our garden. I checked
the rototiller, and was all set in what I was thinking of doing.
Didn’t want to listen to alternatives. Terry just let me go. And
then, as we headed outside to begin the work, she mentioned that
I was an idiot. We had plans for raised beds this year, but I
had been thinking of rototilling the entire garden area. She knew
that was unnecessary, but it was never going to hit me as long
as I stubbornly held on to my plans for the effort. But as we
walked in the yard… she pointed out what I didn’t need to rototill
because of where our raised beds would be going… and ultimately
saved me from a few hours of unnecessary work.
Sometimes
the trick isn’t found in frustrations or changing your mind. Sometimes
it’s just knowing not only what to do, but what not to do. (It
also never hurts to put off for tomorrow what you don’t need to
have done today. But that’s an argument for a different time.)