Thank you for sharing this! I was really worried you were going to have to 5S the second set for being rancid. You made me feel better about some of the projects that I've been putting off. I have a brisket and some elk top rounds I need to make into pastrami. Also I have elk fat I was supposed to render with my daughter to make candles or soap. I just keep thinking about the chunk of time that it will take.
Hank, I turned to your article just now, this afternoon... tired after yardwork, (it is Spring back home y'know) instead of the Gram for a change. Because I needed a Positive Hank Hit. And as I suspected, you provided. Thank You again, for being a great writer, and for sharing with us. Procrastination is deadly to my spirit. A friend also recommended the "take one task, however small, and it will help you get the ball rolling" action for a larger looming dread. I have had some success with it. Bravo.
Loved this paragraph "Procrastination is not laziness. It’s friction between intention and action. And sometimes avoidance feels almost physical. There are moments when the simplest tasks feel impossible: Not because they are hard, but because something in us quietly refuses."
As much as I love my fiancé, he is the procrastinator and I am the "doer", but just having this new perspective on how he may feel but never articulate, is very helpful. Thank you :)
"I really didn’t need discipline. I have that in spades. What I needed was just to begin."
Man this one hit close to home. I spent weeks working on the euro mount I made for the first deer I harvested this past fall and now the wood mount I made sits between my dresser and the wall and my deer skull on top of my gun safe..just needs to be hung on my wall but I keep making excuses on why it's not hung yet. I finished it 5 weeks ago but today that ends. It gets hung and I get to see a reminder of a culmination of 8 seasons of trying, failing and finally success. Everytime I look at it I'll get to revisit one of the most hard fought moments of my life..the crescendo if you will of my journey in hunting. Thanks for your vulnerability and insight with this one.
Yeah, there are those duck legs in the freezer waiting to be confit’d for the future cassoulet. In my case it’s something close to perfectionism that creates a tiny bit of anxiety that holds me back. This is going to be the month, before spring really hits. BTW at some point please post a photo of your awesome nutcracker.
In the Land of Depression, this is called the Impossible Task. Such things don’t have to be hard or complicated. Sometimes it is as simple as putting away a tool. But your head puts it behind a locked door and hides the key.
Ah the "procrasto" gene runs in me and my brothers and sisters as well. It rears its head for me on things I don't like to do or not good at. I do have a big onion bag of black walnuts hanging in the basement I just might take a wack at today!
I had a haul of beaked hazelnuts I managed to forget about repeatedly on top of the refrigerator until a looming wild food potluck brought them to my attention. As you probably know, beaked hazelnuts present many challenges in handling and getting to the [tiny] nuts. Finally, several months procrastination came to an end with 3 pairs of gloves and 2 hours of repeated swearing. Net yield, about a 1/4 cup. Darn tasty though.
Having no one besides yourself to feed adds exponential dread to the challenge. Usually there's some accompanying depression too--especially in Feb/March.
Good on ya for moving through it. 1/2 still awaits the motivation.
Ha! Oh yes, I am familiar with the prickly beaked hazelnuts. Tasty, but fiddly. That nutcracker I have has a special attachment for hazel and other small nuts, which makes short work of them.
Reminds me of winter days when my grandfather and I would build a wood fire in the garage and dig out the burlap bag with the walnuts I would turn the vice Handle he would load and tell stories of his days in the logging camps in northern Minnesota
Totally Totally Totally relate. I wonder, when I finish the job, What was the big deal? The burden is in procrastination. Yet, for some tasks, especially the bookkeeping, I go through it all again. O geez! O boy! We're nuts!
Thank you for bringing it down to an earthy image with walnuts on a tarp.
As I look over at the canvas that's <so close> to being finished, and consider decisions I've been dreading for far too long. "Avoidance costs more than action." Indeed.
Thank you for sharing this! I was really worried you were going to have to 5S the second set for being rancid. You made me feel better about some of the projects that I've been putting off. I have a brisket and some elk top rounds I need to make into pastrami. Also I have elk fat I was supposed to render with my daughter to make candles or soap. I just keep thinking about the chunk of time that it will take.
Hank, I turned to your article just now, this afternoon... tired after yardwork, (it is Spring back home y'know) instead of the Gram for a change. Because I needed a Positive Hank Hit. And as I suspected, you provided. Thank You again, for being a great writer, and for sharing with us. Procrastination is deadly to my spirit. A friend also recommended the "take one task, however small, and it will help you get the ball rolling" action for a larger looming dread. I have had some success with it. Bravo.
Put them in chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate chips. I love black walnuts too and have the same nut cracker!!
Loved this paragraph "Procrastination is not laziness. It’s friction between intention and action. And sometimes avoidance feels almost physical. There are moments when the simplest tasks feel impossible: Not because they are hard, but because something in us quietly refuses."
As much as I love my fiancé, he is the procrastinator and I am the "doer", but just having this new perspective on how he may feel but never articulate, is very helpful. Thank you :)
Just another great column. I'm the procrastinator and my wife is "doer", never stopping. Yet we get along (perhaps me better than her?).
Well, time to finish my taxes - or maybe that will be for tomorrow?
Lead paint in tea? Autocorrect has hijacked your text.
No, you are reading it wrong. Look again. It says leadplant.
"I really didn’t need discipline. I have that in spades. What I needed was just to begin."
Man this one hit close to home. I spent weeks working on the euro mount I made for the first deer I harvested this past fall and now the wood mount I made sits between my dresser and the wall and my deer skull on top of my gun safe..just needs to be hung on my wall but I keep making excuses on why it's not hung yet. I finished it 5 weeks ago but today that ends. It gets hung and I get to see a reminder of a culmination of 8 seasons of trying, failing and finally success. Everytime I look at it I'll get to revisit one of the most hard fought moments of my life..the crescendo if you will of my journey in hunting. Thanks for your vulnerability and insight with this one.
Nailed it. Absolutely nailed it! Once again, thank you!
That last sentence is masterful.
thank you!
Yeah, there are those duck legs in the freezer waiting to be confit’d for the future cassoulet. In my case it’s something close to perfectionism that creates a tiny bit of anxiety that holds me back. This is going to be the month, before spring really hits. BTW at some point please post a photo of your awesome nutcracker.
It's the photo at the top of the essay. Grandpa's Goody Getter.
In the Land of Depression, this is called the Impossible Task. Such things don’t have to be hard or complicated. Sometimes it is as simple as putting away a tool. But your head puts it behind a locked door and hides the key.
Trax: I'm not really depressed, just distracted. There are many "shiny things" in my life right now.
Understood. I am speaking in general and defining the concept.
Having shiny things is fun! I recently retired and have so many shiny things it can be hard to choose or get them organized. Lol.
Ah the "procrasto" gene runs in me and my brothers and sisters as well. It rears its head for me on things I don't like to do or not good at. I do have a big onion bag of black walnuts hanging in the basement I just might take a wack at today!
Go for it! Now you know they'll keep at least two years...
Nuts.
I had a haul of beaked hazelnuts I managed to forget about repeatedly on top of the refrigerator until a looming wild food potluck brought them to my attention. As you probably know, beaked hazelnuts present many challenges in handling and getting to the [tiny] nuts. Finally, several months procrastination came to an end with 3 pairs of gloves and 2 hours of repeated swearing. Net yield, about a 1/4 cup. Darn tasty though.
Having no one besides yourself to feed adds exponential dread to the challenge. Usually there's some accompanying depression too--especially in Feb/March.
Good on ya for moving through it. 1/2 still awaits the motivation.
Ha! Oh yes, I am familiar with the prickly beaked hazelnuts. Tasty, but fiddly. That nutcracker I have has a special attachment for hazel and other small nuts, which makes short work of them.
Reminds me of winter days when my grandfather and I would build a wood fire in the garage and dig out the burlap bag with the walnuts I would turn the vice Handle he would load and tell stories of his days in the logging camps in northern Minnesota
Totally Totally Totally relate. I wonder, when I finish the job, What was the big deal? The burden is in procrastination. Yet, for some tasks, especially the bookkeeping, I go through it all again. O geez! O boy! We're nuts!
Thank you for bringing it down to an earthy image with walnuts on a tarp.
As I look over at the canvas that's <so close> to being finished, and consider decisions I've been dreading for far too long. "Avoidance costs more than action." Indeed.