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I don’t want to [blank]. I want to have [blank]ed.

47 Comments

I was just thinking today about the dilemma which a lot of creative professionals find themselves in. They want to HAVE CREATED, but right now they’re not interested in CREATING. And then “right now” extends through day after day after day. As I was pondering I realized that this likely extends to other fields, to vocations, avocations, and pure recreations alike.

So I put it to you… fill in the blanks. “I don’t want to [blank]. I want to have [blank]ed.”

What is it that you want to have done, but don’t want to actually do.

47 thoughts on “I don’t want to [blank]. I want to have [blank]ed.”

  1. I don’t want to clean. I want to have cleaned.

    I don’t want to lose weight. I want to have lost weight.

    I don’t want to send things to publishers. I want to have sent things to publishers.

  2. What really sucks is when you create something really cool and you want to hear what other people think of it, and the silence is just deafening.

    Which doesn’t answer your questions, exactly. 🙂

    I love your strip. It is full of awesome and win.

  3. Bless you sir.
    A Clarion call to get off ones butt and DO rather than wish/imagine that one has done.
    My niece says my problem is that I live in my head. Thanks for reminging me that thoughts are only good when they lead to decisive action and deeds.
    And that life is never “on hold” so one must needs grapple with it moment by moment.

    1. This amuses me because I WANT to edit other people’s work. *I’m really great at knowing when something doesn’t sound right, granted I can’t tell you why it sounds off, just that it does*

  5. I’m not sure that that’s true for creative processes. To have [blank]ed is a nice feeling of achievement to look back upon (in mild bafflement, in my case, as I have oft forgotten whatever it was that I did), but a majority of the enjoyment/satisfaction is during the [blank]ing itself.

    1. Trust me… while it may not be the case for everyone, it is certainly the case for a lot of people. Especially writers and artists. I don’t want to draw. I want to have drawn. I don’t want to write. I want to have written.

      I don’t want to play Lego Star Wars right now. I want to… wait a minute. Yes , I DO want to play Lego Star Wars right now!

  7. “I don’t want to CLEAN, I want to Have Cleaned”
    But I think this probably applies to a great many folks, especially with the chaos of the holidays now over, and three months of winter left to face…

    2. Ah, I see the holidays as the start to the best part of the year. So it isn’t left to face but left to embrace. (Some of this might have to do with living right across from a ski resort….

  8. I want to have lost weight. I want to have gotten back into good physical condition. I want to have paid off all my debt. I want to have cleaned up my yard. I want to have built a nice bookshelf. I could go on, but I think I’ll stop now.

  9. I don’t want to put 30 years in in the military, I want to have done so and now be retired on a very nice pension that is 75% of the average of my last three years’ pay.

    Of course, then I’d be at least 54ish, so… maybe not.

  12. As a musician, I want to sound practiced, but I don’t want to practice. Scales suck.

    Actually, this isn’t true, I really want to sound as if the music magically happens without the need to practice. Of course, to achieve that takes even more practice.

  19. I don’t want to start my next project. I want to have started.

    For some reason, is the getting everything set up and actually starting that’s the usual big roadblock for me.

  20. “I don’t want to play the lottery, I want to have won!”

    There. Definitely something for nothing there. And about as likely as en pointe for me at this point. 😀

    “I don’t want to heal, I want to have healed.” One dratted thing after another. 😀 Ah, well.

  24. I don’t want to earn a paycheck, I want to have earned a paycheck.

    Furthermore, I don’t want to exercise, I want to have exercised.

    Conversely, I don’t want to have eaten as much as I like of whatever I like, but I want to eat as much as I like of whatever I like.

    Furthermore conversely, I don’t want to have slept around a lot, but I want to sleep around a lot.

    Curse this whole foul “cause and effect” relationship!

  25. My job does give me a few of those, but mostly I enjoy the part that I get paid for – figuring out how to do things.

    I can say, many times, however, that I don’t want to fill out the paperwork, I want to have had it filled out for me and have moved on to the next fun bit.

  27. I don’t want to learn, I want to have learned.

    More specifically, I would really like it if stuff I read or did stayed in my head without having to work at it.

  30. an aside of sorts

    NOt in the spirit of the post but in response to something you said on your schlockmercenary.com page.

    Tagons Toughs Clicks/Mini’s. Now THATS something that would tempt the money right out of my wallet.
    Blessings to you and your family, Howard.
    Thanks for all the yucks.

  31. I don’t want to sleep, I want to have slept! Honestly, I feel much the same about sleeping as Sandra does about eating – if only we could only do it when it was pleasant and convenient! Dang mortal body. 😛

  32. I don’t want to get a master’s degree. I want to have gotten a master’s degree.

    This is why I haven’t got a master’s degree.

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