Diligence

​Diligence
Maybe I am obsessed with dictionaries.  I was not even going there for a word, but I found myself looking up its meaning.  “Diligence” “Persistent effort or work, industrious character.” (Oxford).  “Careful and persistent effort”
The main word I see there is persistent.
It is sort of what I have been doing around the yard.  There are a number of things to get done.  It is a whole “Rome was not built in a day” thing.  I have been getting through work around the yard on a gradual basis.  As much as possible I try to do things and even if not finished, try to make it look like I was never there.
In other words, I am not into leaving stuff around there to finish the job.  I am a great believer in putting things where they go and getting them again for what may be “part 2.”  The importance of that was emphasized to me a while back when I left a rake somewhere I was going to finish later.  Later did not arrive as soon as I thought, and the rake was needed.  I had forgotten where I had left it.  I looked where it goes, and it was not there and found it later in the obscure place I had it for the work I was doing.
It definitely takes time to do but in my mind it is worth it.  Thinking about it, it ties in with my not leaving say the garden shed door open as I don’t know what will happen after I have gotten what I needed, so I like to leave it like I have not been there.
Anyway, I am looking at this diligence thing.  To me it is not taking short cuts that give an incorrect outcome but look finished.  That to me is so disappointing.  Going to something thinking it is all good and finding it otherwise.  And at best needing to do it again and at worst having lost all relevant data to make it right.  I have experienced that once and the world did not end, but I reckon it made me the wiser.
Sometimes what is required takes time.  Sometimes there is little to show for the effort, but it really is worth it.  Things often get along at a good clip later.  It is a good feeling knowing something has been done as well as I can do it even if it took longer than I thought it would.
That actually happens a fair bit.  I am in the habit of setting aside a certain amount of time for a task.  Say two hours.  It may take three or four but that is not what is important to me.  What matters is making a start.  I find that the hardest part.  Often once I get going, I am into it.
I find diligence is not a matter of doing only if I feel like it.  To me it is the bottom line and if I do anything less, I may as well not have done it at all.