Stuart Davis:
Advancing and Retiring Colors Diagram (1942)

" … I can accomplish virtually anything."

Almost four years ago, when we moved back into The Villa Vatta Schmaltz after a twelve-year absence, we just crammed some stuff into whatever corner availed itself, particularly in the basement. Then, life regained momentum, and we didn't find a reason to retrace our earlier decisions. Clogs resulted. Particularly in my basement shop/laundry room, the clutter predominated. I'd just splayed most of my tools along the vast workbench top and worked around that mess. A month ago, I took positive steps toward eradicating that embarrassment. I hired Kurt, our painter, to refinish a peeling back wall, and I pivoted some of the shelving ninety degrees to provide space along its backside for pegboard, where I imagined I could mount my hand tools for tidy and convenient access. Painting done, I've not yet started moving back into the freshly refurbished space.

I am in the process of UnProcrastinating, with the explicit intention of creating a fresh context, if not a NextWorld. Once Kurt set to work, I was amazed at how other unrelated clogs began loosening. I made progress toward publishing one of these series after years of stuckness. Preparations for Winter progressed much more smoothly than usual. The front porch project, on which I'd given up making any progress until Spring, also started moving. By Christmas, we could even access our front door by way of the front steps for the first time since last August. In several aspects, my life loosened up, and I experienced progress once I'd begun renewing a single procrastinated piece.

I began this reformation with the explicit notion that it might kick off a cascade of unsticking. It's been my experience that procrastination is more communicable than measles. When I tolerate it in one area of my life, it quickly migrates beyond those borders. UnProcrastinating seems capable of similarly proliferating. This potential serves as real motivation to tuck in and begin cleaning up. The systemic response might not be immediate, but it seems reasonably certain. Any difference at all might become the motivation to continue. In my experience, much of such messes ultimately sort of sort out themselves. One barrier to progress is usually the notion that some grand design must preface any actual progress, but this has not usually been the case for me. I seem to need to fuss and fester over finalizing some central organizing principle before stumbling upon some notion that gets the effort in motion. Once some momentum's gained, the crap tends to find its way to order. The resulting organization almost always proves superior to whatever I’d imagined I’d needed to finalize before continuing. I am always my most effective barrier to progress.

Real change occurs between the promise of improvement and the progress any little improvement tends to encourage. I'm not there yet—or haven't quite arrived yet—but the slight improvement just the repainting produced, should provide another goose. I am a reluctant reformer. I fear failure without fully appreciating that the failure to begin or, worse, the failure to continue once started amounts to the more significant and far more persistent shortcoming. Failing to create a seamless replacement for any long-standing embarrassment might be best accounted for as a feature. The result might be much less magnificent than imagined, but still represent a drastic improvement. Any interim movement toward eliminating the long-standing clog must be considered a success.

There have been times in my life when I felt as though I was compelled to create those messes that would later, inevitably, scream for replacement. I have, at times, sincerely believed that I was probably born not to accomplish anything but to procrastinate. I briefly considered going professional as a ProCrastinator, crastination being the constant in that calculation. But I can sometimes see that I inhabit both sides of that spectrum. I have proven myself more than capable of creating absolute chaos. Just check out the top of my desk. I have also shown a remarkable aptitude for uncluttering and even finding delight in so doing. I have spent lengthy periods of my life slinking around some junk pile I'm maintaining. Notwithstanding, I have proven capable of inspired and even inspiring organization. Once the UnProcrastinating gene kicks in, it's a NextWorld, and I can accomplish virtually anything.

©2024 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #NextWorld, #PureSchmaltz