Boxed in

Ten days ago, we moved the AmeriNZ World Headquarters, something that began a few weeks earlier with various chores and preparations, and has continued ever since with unpacking boxes and finding places for the contents. All of which has been such a big job that I simply haven’t had time for much else.

I’ve learned a few things along the way. Probably chief among them, no matter how much stuff you think you have, you’re wrong. Triple it, at the very least, and then triple it again. You’ll probably still be underestimating.

However long you think tasks will take, they'll actually take much longer. Similarly, the time needed to complete a task will expand to fill and exceed all time available for that task. I’ve found this to be a Rule for Life, actually.

Exhaustion can be tolerated for a time, as long as completion of the project grows closer. However, the quicker arrival of the end-point for the project becomes possible because things that seemed absolutely necessary when the project began later become unimportant as the end-point looms closer, and that fact draws the end-point closer still.

And, no matter how ambitious one becomes, there are always more boxes to deal with, seemingly forever, though of course it isn’t really that long. I hope.

And that’s what I’ve been doing lately.

The photo above is me in my office yesterday morning, with many boxes piled up behind me. There are many more boxes elsewhere. If you think I look unamused, you're right.