It is that time of year, with the first snows of the winter arriving a couple days ago, which also means changing the summer tyres to studs. It is normally a forty five minute job, so no drama there - or so I thought. Unfortunately, after changing the front two, the teeth of the locknut key broke, which meant that I couldn't get them off and as it was the weekend, none of the wheel places were open, so I had to book it in for Monday morning.
To change two tyres, they charged the full fifty for the work, and then thirty four euros for four normal bolts, because I didn't want locknuts again. Locknuts might be great for people worried about having their alloys stolen, by mine are basic factory rims, so if someone is desperate enough that they need the couple dollars they might be able to sell old wheels for, they are welcome to them.
While the broken teeth on the key are not my fault, it is my fault that I didn't change the bolts myself, because I knew it was going to become a problem at some point. And if I had done that, I would have paid 8€ for four lock bolts, or 40€ for all the bolts to be changed, as they are 2€ each. Instead, I was charged 8.50€ each.
The joys of manufacturer service.
Things like this often happen to me, where I have procrastinated doing what I know I should do, but keep putting it off out of convenience. In this instance, I knew I wanted to change them a few years ago, so that means that I have changed the tyres five or six times since, but haven't organised myself to have the new bolts on-hand when I did the work. And since they weren't on-hand, it became a "net time" thing, which created a future me problem.
Am I the only one?
What makes it more annoying is there is a car part store about a kilometre away from me, and I have visited there multiple times, but have never picked up the bolts. Of course, I haven't been in there for the bolts when I have visited, so they weren't on my mind. I can't be the only one in the world that does this though, because I suspect many are just as disorganised or have the "mañana" approach to living, without recognising all the times that the easier choice in the moment, is the harder, more expensive situation in the future.
As I was writing this, I decided to send an email to some clients that for no good reason, I was putting off sending for over a week now. It was a simple reschedule of sessions, but for some reason I kept procrastinating. So, I sent it, and it has all been sorted, no drama, no cost.
But why was it an issue at all?
Is it that the reschedule would put other people out and I don't want to cause the disruption? Is it that it might make me look like I am disorganised, even though I had no choice in the change? I just don't have a good reason, yet this kind of behaviour is pretty common for me, even though I have worked hard to not be this kind of person.
But I behave like that kind of person, I am that kind of person, right?
Which means that I have to get better at changing my behaviours in this area, ensuring that I take care of what needs to be done, before doing anything else. Because I really should learn from years and years of accumulated mistakes. Yet I don't. Well, that is not completely true, because while like an addict I might always be primed, I am acting far less as a procrastinator than I once was, but I definitely regress and relapse from time to time.
Eat the vegetables before dessert.
With so many possible more interesting and convenient ways to distract us from what we should be doing, doing what we should has become increasingly harder. Possibly in the past with less ways to spend our time, getting what we needed to do done, was just easier and didn't require much willpower, because doing something was better than doing literally nothing. Now, we can feel like we are doing something, even though we are doing nothing.
I need to reflect on these points sometimes and I should do it more often that I do, because it helps me get what I need to do done. There is an "out of sight, out of mind" component to our behaviour, so if we aren't consciously thinking about what we need to do to be the kind of person we want to be, then we will very easily fall into our defaults, which are generally the easiest, most convenient, least rewarding and often riskiest activities. The risk might not be direct danger, but the negative impacts of complacency.
I need the reminder that sinking teeth into activity is a better life than passivity, in the moment and for the future. With broken teeth, life just doesn't turn.
Taraz
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