Iucundi acti labores
(M. Tullius Cicero, Brutus 70)

(Pron = yoo-koon-dee ahk-tee lah-boh-rays)

Work that is all done is delightful.

Comment: Cicero offers us here a little mirror into a human dynamic that I
suspect is rather universal (and I will add here that this makes a saying much
more “proverbial” than any other—a reflection on human experience that has
universal application. That said, not all proverbs are always so “wise”).

I love “to cut the grass” after I am done. I love “to work through a poem of
Propertius”, when I have finished (not my favorite Roman poet). I love “to
clean out the garage” when it’s nice and clean. And to truly more enjoyable
projects: I love to paint a painting once it is taking shape in front of me, or
to write a poem once I am caught in the magic of it, or to go on a walk on the
beach once I have begun it.

There is something about beginning a task, a “labor” that we fight with our
inertia, but which very same task can be delightful once we have overcome the
inertia and begun it. I remind myself to remember this from time to
time—usually just after deciding to cut the grass—tomorrow!