It snowed big time. It started late Friday afternoon. We all drove home on a sheet of ice in a blizzard. By Saturday morning we had over a foot of snow on the ground, and when the storm tapered off Saturday afternoon, the snow was 18 inches deep on my driveway.
Now, I am a single member household. If anything gets done around here, I am the one who has to do it. So I knew it was up to me to get the snow cleared. I had planned for snow. I bought a battery powered blower that could clear 9 inches of snow. I figured that would handle most of our snowfall; it worked great last winter. I pulled the plow out to the end of the garage and opened the door. I knew right away, when the snow stood twice as tall as the snowblower, that I was in for a good workout.
One Scoop at a Time
They say a journey of a thousand miles starts with one footstep. Well, that is the way I looked at this. First, I had only half the driveway to shovel, as the car was snow-buried on one side of the driveway. So I figured I would start by clearing only the top half of half of the driveway. One scoop at a time, I got to work. One scoop at a time, building a huge pile of snow on the east side of the driveway, until I found the center seam in the cement. It took forever but finally, there I was with half the driveway shoveled clear.
I couldn’t stop there, though! One scoop at a time, I continued. I figured I would shovel to where the driveway meets the sidewalk. I kept going, building the ever higher pile of snow along the driveway until I found the seam between the driveway and the sidewalk. It took a long time, but finally, the driveway was shoveled clear.
Taking a Break
The sidewalk itself is narrow and not too long where the driveway crosses it. So, one scoop at a time, I continued, throwing the snow onto the boulevard on either side of the driveway. Until I found the seam between the sidewalk and the apron of the driveway. It took forever. By then I had had it. I was almost too pooped to hang the shovel in the garage and return to the house. I would finish the rest the next morning.
Completing the Task
So, Sunday morning, I went out after breakfast and made the piles on the boulevard higher as I shoveled the snow off half the apron of the driveway. I would have shoveled the entire apron, but somehow my “get-up-and-go” had gotten up and went. I cleared just enough to get the pickup out of the driveway. Of course, this required leveling the twelve-inch berm the snowplow had piled at the base of my driveway. I decided to clear a one-scoop-wide path down the sidewalk in front of my house. One scoop at a time, throwing the snow on the boulevard, I worked my way down the sidewalk with frequent stops, until a narrow path down the sidewalk traversed the length of my yard. That was it. I was done. It had taken forever, but I was finished!
Instant Gratification
If you shovel when the snowstorm is over, then snow shoveling is an instant-gratification job. You immediately see results. I think that is why I like jobs like painting, fencing, and building things with wood — you immediately see the results. Other than shoveling snow in the middle of the storm, instant gratification jobs like painting and fencing often last a long time. Cleaning up the kitchen – although it is an instant gratification job — is not the same. You have to do it again after the next meal.
In life, lots of people tend to put off projects that require labor or time. Rather than taking the one step to start the journey or lift the one scoop of snow, they avoid starting at all. They wish they had the snow shoveled. They wish they had the room painted. They wish they had the fence built, and they intend to do it — but they don’t.
How We Can Help
Silverman Law Office can help you with some of your big projects which you keep putting off: getting your estate plan done, forming that new business entity, selling your business, doing something with that letter from the IRS. We have a team that will help with the heavy lifting, that is knowledgeable to guide you through a process. As you go along, one step at a time, one scoop at a time, it may seem to take forever, but you will see progress. When you get done, you will look at what you have accomplished and feel a deep sense of gratification. Contact a lawyer, like a Montana estate planning attorney from Silverman Law Office, for more information today.