The pile never gets to zero.
When we choose to go our own way, take the road less traveled and hire ourselves, there will always more to do, all the time, forever, until we die. Or go out of business.
It’s an infinite regression. Like two opposing mirrors, Parkinson’s Law proves that the list of stuff to do, things to learn and people to contact will continue to refill itself in perpetuity. And there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
Initially, it’s overwhelming. We feel like we’re never making any progress with our enterprise, or, worse yet, moving in reverse. Not exactly motivating.
But over time, we learn to honor the pile. We make peace with it. We even joust with it. And we give thanks to the small business gods for it because, unlike most of the world, our job is rarely boring. There’s always something to be done.
Certainly makes the day go by faster.