The Have-Dones

If there is one piece of advice I should give to future generations,
having learned it the hardest way, it is perhaps this:

Carefully distinguish the things that you want to do from the things
that you want merely to have done, and be cautious of the things that
are only and solely the latter.

Granted, some things we would like to have done we may also like the
doing. We may enjoy the writing of a novel and at the same time like
the idea of having done it — and having been paid for it. Some things
we don't especially like the doing of, but we would like to have done
them for the sake of some specific benefit we expect, like a greater
freedom or skill or knowledge it will buy us. But beware what we would
like to have done mainly so that we can say that we did it, tell
ourselves we checked off a box, or for the sake of the prestige we
think it will gain us. These things are empty.

Exercise this caution because you should arrange your life to whatever
extent possible around doing the things you find joy and satisfaction
in the doing of. Most importantly, arrange your primary ambition
around them. "Things you want to have done, but don't want to be
doing" is a pretty good definition of a chore. If you choose your
ambitions and live your life focused on them, then your life will be a
chore.

Living for something that gives you direct satisfaction and joy may
not always be easy and even in the best cases must sometimes feel like
a chore, but not doing it guarantees a life in which drudgery is the
norm.

 

E. Hawthorne Winner
Evergreen Colorado