Unfinished Vision - NEVERMORE!

Remember that cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” . . . well, what do you make of this digital snap of a broken mechanical raven that I recently bought. To me, it is a PERFECT illustration of my ‘personal best’, when it comes to procrastinating and never finishing things that I start.

Don’t worry, I haven’t warmed up the noose yet, nor am I suffering a flashback Poe incarnation binging on alcohol, self pity, and despair. No, fear not, I am still fully engaged, as much as these old loose gears can be of course. I just happen to recognize that my principle failing in life, is not the things that elude my expertise, but actually the things that I CAN do well, but fail to follow through on and complete.

Call it laziness, boredom, disinterest, or a combo of all three – it doesn’t matter. The point is in life, if you want to REALLY succeed, you need to see your vision through and fairly quickly. You can have all the great ideas and a trunk-load of unmatched skills and abilities. But like speaking or writing, if you never finish your sentences, then only a precious few outsiders will ever understand what you are trying to say.

That does not mean that your vision must be small or quickly achieved simply to benefit others. On the contrary, the most satisfying of ultimate goals may take a lifetime of personal growth and experimentation to fully blossom. However it is developmentally critical that you have built in ‘markers’ or stages within your vision to track your personal progress. Don’t fall prey to having grandiose ideas and far-reaching goals without a plan of where you have been, and how far is yet to go before reaching that next evaluation marker.

So what’s the story with that dumb dead raven? Well he only cost a buck at a garage sale, so honestly as a metal sculpture alone, I was satisfied that I had met my first value marker. Next I’d like to rig up a new stepper motor and see if I can get the wings and mouth to flap again. There should be enough time between now and Halloween. Yep, ‘once upon a midnight dreary’ given my track record, this cold crow should warm up and ‘caw’ again somewhere around late 2025!