5%

Why is it that the last 5% of a job seems to be the most difficult? I am down to one paper and one exam (and the exam I just need to show up for). When these are completed, my first semester of grad school is over. Done. Finished. I can finally sleep. Yet I find myself cleaning instead of working on the paper. Cleaning? Really? I want the satisfaction of checking this paper off my google tasks to-do list, but my motivation tank is depleted. And I even like the subject. It is just that the last segment of a job is the put-your-head-down-and-just-get-through-it kind of work. It's like when I hiked up to Warren Lake this summer with my dad and sister. We had already climbed over Cutaway Pass and had a steep set of switchbacks before we could set up camp. Part way up the trail, I simply did not want to move a step forward. I knew that the view from the top would be beautiful. I was sure that once I had climbed to the lake I could sit, rest, eat a clif bar and rehydrate. That last bit of hiking was grueling. But I did it anyway. Like a certain individual has told me on a number of occasions (*cough*Dad*cough), "You can do anything for a short period of time. You can even stand on your head for a short period of time." In less than seventy-two hours I will be at home in Montana with family. I am not sure that I could actually stand on my head for that long (I usually get a headache after about a minute...and it wouldn't really be helping me finish this paper...), but I know that I can finish this semester well during my last couple of days of 2011 in Boston. Even if it means logging out of facebook so I can chip away at a paper.