He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life seemed to him hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged.

^{from Chapter 2: Strong Temptations; Strategic Movements; The Innocents Beguiled}

Boy, oh boy, that’s a perfect description of how I feel every time I try and tackle my paperwork project, or my other goals where I’m stuck.

Tom was tempted to give up, or to “hire” his friends to do his work by giving them trinkets. But suddenly he was inspired to strategically pretend that whitewashing the fence was fun, and beguile his innocent friends into whitewashing the fence for him, and having his friends pay him trinkets for the privilege! I would guess this is the most famous part of the whole book. It’s the part I was already familiar with.

However, I just hate the idea of beguiling innocent friends to do my work for me. I even hate the idea of asking them to waste their time helping me. And when I get discouraged, instead of sitting down on a tree box, it’s a strong temptation to log on to 43 Things and use it as a distraction. Or read a book. Or do just about anything else. I guess I’m hoping for a great, magnificent inspiration, but no inspiration seems to come. :(