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I made myself a pair of earrings with little birds on silver chains, but when I tried them on, the chains were too long, and the birds looked silly. I left them out so that I would see them daily, and perhaps be inspired to fix them. Daily, I looked at them, and thought, “I had better do that. It won’t take but a minute.
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My most dramatic procrastination feat, however, has been cleaning my living room carpet. I have had this at the top of my to do list for years. I mean, really, really years! Maybe ten! I often thought about sending it out. There were several deterrents here. It would be expensive, it was a lot of work to get the carpet folded up and into the car, and most of all, it was so disgusting that I would be humiliated to make the carpet cleaner man deal with it. And if I did it myself, I still had to get it outside and find a good place to do it. And then there was the weather. I needed guaranteed sun for a few days. This being Seattle, that was sort of limiting (but not as limiting as I let it be.) Finally, I could stand the carpet no longer, and so John and I rolled it up, lugged it out, and gave it a good wash. I was shocked to see the disgusting muck just roll off. Shocked and delighted. It is a different color now, and I am happy every time I walk across it.
Procrastination has its rewards. I am so triumphant and thrilled when the task is finally done. If I had just done it in the first place, there would be none of this ecstasy of long-delayed accomplishment.