I have a book post to write later today, but for some reason this phrase has popped into my mind recently. It’s from a TV show of several years back called Leverage, and we really enjoyed it for awhile until the writing got so bad that we couldn’t stand it any more and stopped watching. But, in spite of all those flaws, it had some memorable characters, among them an ex-mercenary soldier kinda guy named Eliot Spencer who had a lot of facets to him. In one episode the team has infiltrated a wedding that involves some crime figures, and the soldier guy is acting as the catering chef, primarily because he can cook. He gets really into the whole thing, almost forgetting why the team is there in the first place. People are coming and the food isn’t ready! It’s more stressful than a hit job. I actually looked up the quotation above; it’s what he says to another team member when she’s trying to get him to leave the kitchen and get on with their investigation. (Season 1, Episode 7: “The Wedding Job.”)
But it’s a good mantra, something for me to say to myself when I’m doing my usual complaining about something that needs to be done instead of just, well, doing it, a surprisingly useful little jab to get me going. The outdoor mat is still sitting in our living room space because no one has swept off the patio? That mat isn’t gonna move itself. The space between the tile and the wooden threshold in the bathroom needs to be re-grouted? It isn’t gonna grout itself. The company that came in and measured my table for a custom glass top hasn’t ever gotten back to me? That phone call isn’t gonna make itself. (I know—I hate the word “gonna.” Got to be true to the quote, though!)
What could you just go ahead and do, right now, instead of letting whatever-it-is just sit?