No matter how well I plan, when beginning a new project it’s an absolute certainty I can’t start without first making a trip to get something I need.

The actual complexity of the project doesn’t matter. It can be a major effort requiring a huge block of time, right down to a small, minor-effort, quick-and-dirty something or other that I just need to throw together. It also doesn’t seem to matter how much prep work or material ordering has been done because when I’m ready to go, I suddenly realize I’m missing something. Usually something major enough that I can’t start without it.

First of all, that invariably means putting on clothes suitable for public consumption. That is, not the rags I usually wear in the shop with so many holes and tears that they often don’t quite cover everything.

It means driving somewhere that has what I need. It means buying it, loading it, driving it home, unloading it and, finally, preparing it for use. If I can get it somewhere easy like the Big Box near me it can still mean an hour. If it’s something the Big Box won’t have, count on more time wasted.

More often than not, the delay in getting started means I need to take care of something else that would have been done during a “break” had I started when I’d wanted to. Often, that something else requires action – a phone call, an email follow-up, etc. – that delays me even more.

Finally, it means that whatever planning I’d done for time management for the project must now be redone. That often affects not just the project at hand, but stuff I’d planned to do on subsequent days.

I’ve tried to address this over the years with better planning before starting. But no matter how hard I try, I always miss something.

A.J.