90% Doesn't Work

I have a bad habit. It's 90%.

The habit goes like this: I get an idea for a project, and plan for supplies. I buy the supplies and begin work. Three-quarters through the work I get another project itching on me. By Four-Fifths through production phase I can't wait to be done. The pace increases; the details decrease. By the time I'm 9/10's or 90% complete, I've shoved enough 'dirt under the carpet' to make the project look done. Then I move on to replay the same type-show on the next project, all half-aware of the over-all effect.

Skip ahead 6 months, 6 months of being nowhere near my projects. I reenter the project zone, and can see my past projects... and there's holes! Holes everywhere! Little fragments and details that were left incomplete. The picture's there, but not if you look too hard. Examples? Properly spackled drywall. Old and painted door hinges on new doors. Old and painted door handles on new doors. Nail holes in beadboarded bathrooms. Poor jobs of caulking. Three-quarters of counter-flashing done on the chimney (letting minute amounts of water onto the roof underneath the shingles). Once cut-down plants regrowing where they're no longer wanted. Window trim painted white, but the inside portions of the window still off-white to peach. I could go on.

So here's the new project: re-do the old projects. I've created a nice dry-erase board list of tasks. And now that I know my pattern, I need to focus on patience.

Patience to complete the job. Alison says I've got more than her. I'd argue that I have no patience, just a lot of ambition and some perserverance to get things done. I'm impatient the whole time. In fact, I want this post to be done.