spacing hack

yelyah

solo piano 20101009

A strange thing happened to me yesterday.

Okay, backstory.

I've mentioned it many times before, but I have a huge problem with procrastination. And then I mentioned once that I have some shoes to return that I've been holding on to since last winter.

Did I mention I have 5 pairs to return? To 2 different online retailers. I detailed it earlier, but 2 of the pairs were worn outside, which was how I learned that they really didn't actually fit.

So the strange thing. At some point, as I was taking care of the non-dramatic shoe return (the pairs that didn't have to be cleaned first), the balance tipped:

The pain of keeping the pairs of shoes that were part of the more complicated return became greater than the pain of actually doing something about it.

Ergo, I ended up finally spending the time I needed to clean the shoes. Meticulous cleaning with water, paper towels and a freaking paper clip. We're talking specks of dirt that all got scrapped off bit by tiny bit.

To me, it was quite strange to have reached that tipping point where I didn't have to force myself to take care of what I was procrastinating on (which is generally how it goes) and instead I was gladly taking care of it.

I figure it was some combination of:

  1. the momentum brought on by working on a similar task (the packaging of the completely clean shoes) and
  2. the growing desire to get the money back so I can do something useful with it

And for the record, I'm actually going to beat the 365 return policy by a couple months instead of how I'd usually be waiting until the deadline (or just missing it completely).

I've still got a lot on my I'm-procrastinating-on list, but I'm learning that any forward momentum can be a huge motivator.

Just keep chipping away at the list.