Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1175IR // #c1175Synthesis

"Do instantly whatever is to be done, and take the hours of recreation after business, never before it. When a regiment is under march, the rear is often thrown into confusion because the front do not move steadily and without interruption."

— In our words · Source: Self-Help (Samuel Smiles)

[Use when]

Small tasks are stacking up behind one you keep putting off.

[Why it matters]

Walter Scott's advice to a young clerk names the problem as dawdling and the cost as a backlog where "affairs begin to press all at once." Clearing the first item keeps everything behind it moving.

Filed under situations:When you’re stuck and running on empty

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