The Stages of Procrastination - April 14, 2023
Back in June of 2021, just as Le Garage was opening its doors to sell wine, I wrote an article for my blog, “ The Art of Procrastination in Winemaking”. In this article, I theorized that it is acceptable to procrastinate when it comes to winemaking. I stand by this theory, but it could be further broken down into stages of procrastination. Procrastination Stage 1 is acceptable, Procrastination Stage 2 is risky, but Procrastination Stage 3 is ill-advised.
Example:
I ordered 100 gallons of freshly crushed Pinot Grigio from Chilé, and it will arrive within the next few weeks. To be prepared for this winemaking I need to clean out one of my tanks, making sure to use a final sulfite rinse which will kill any bacteria inside the tank. I also need to add nutrients and yeast to that order, which is used for the fermentation process.
Stage 1: It is honestly too soon to do the sulfite rinse because the last rinse should occur within a few hours of pumping the wine into the tank. I’ll wait to clean out the tank and then do the final rinse immediately afterward.
Stage 2: I have decided to wait to prepare any of the equipment until I get the call from the distributor with the delivery day and time. There is not that much equipment needed and I can save steps by cleaning everything at one time.
Stage 3: I will also wait to order any of the yeasts and nutrients needed for fermentation and order when the distributor calls me with the delivery day and time.
**Stage 3, while a classic move for me, is a potential failure point. I can and will adjust this decision to make the call on Monday.
Another Example:
To be prepared for summer sales Ivy needs a tune-up and an oil change. She also needs to be cleaned out, restocked, and reorganized. The reorganization cannot be completed until the back cargo hatch door is repaired.
Stage 1 - Last year I noticed I needed a new seal for the rear cargo door of Ivy. I kept pushing the old stretched out seal into place and closing the hatch door to keep it in place. I had placed a towel inside the cargo area for any puddles of rain leaking in through the cargo door.
Stage 2 - Late last summer, the door seal was so stretched out that while pushing it back into place I had to quickly slam the door accidentally jamming the latch.
Without the back door opening, I cannot easily get to the umbrella or the boxes of cups that I stock in the bus. Since today is our big opening day, I called my neighbor yesterday and asked him to look at it for me. He said yes!
Yesterday afternoon, before I got the bus to my neighbor, I was reminded that I was to be at an event at 4:30 in the afternoon. I had to push the cargo seal jam until later in the evening.
During the brief visit with my neighbor he found that slamming the cargo door made an important screw come loose and fall out of the bus. He won’t be able to fix the bus door until I pick up the metric flathead screw and he is back from work again to fix it.
Stage 3 – I am out of time for the tune-up and oil change also, but I don’t put a lot of miles on Ivy. I checked the oil and added brake fluid instead. I will get the screw for the latch later in the weekend. In the interim, I have a workaround for opening the back cargo door.
**This example shows an epic failure on Procrastination Stage 2.
I ended my blog article 2 years ago with this statement, “The rest of the decisions I am kicking down the road again. When the decision needs to be made it will surely present itself. There’s nothing better than a glass of wine with a little procrastination!”
The outcome of the above analysis is this; I agree that a glass of wine is suitable at anytime, but kicking things down the road multiple times is a mistake.
No Judgement, Cheers!
Sharon
