In a sprawling prairie dog town in northwest Nebraska, there lived a black-tailed prairie dog named Dash. He was known throughout the colony for his speed and agility. But within his ward, his fellow rodents also noticed Dash tended to put things off until tomorrow.

Every autumn, all the prairie dogs prepared mightily for the coming winter. They were always busy in this season and took the time to reinforce their burrow entrances, gather seeds, steal plants, and they had to either find or dig out places in their special underground chambers to store their food. It was hard work that required weeks of dedication.

“Friends, we must start our winter preparations today,” said Elder, the oldest prairie dog in the colony. “The signs are all telling me that an early winter is approaching.”

The prairie dogs took Elder’s words to heart. They scurried off to work, their tan bodies moving nonstop across the grasslands for several days. Dash, however, lounged about near his burrow’s entrance.

“Why rush?” said Dash to his neighbor, Luna. “Winter is still many sunrises away. I’ll start tomorrow when I feel more energetic.”

Luna paused. Her whiskers twitched with concern. “The weather will change quickly, Dash. It always does. There’s no time to waste.”

“My burrow is fine,” said Dash. “And I’m the fastest gatherer in the colony. I can collect a week’s worth of food in just a few hours.”

A few more days passed. As their warning calls and yips filled the air, thousands of the colony’s prairie dogs worked diligently and with incredible teamwork. Meanwhile, Dash played among the different types of grasses, slept in every day, while occasionally popping up out of his hole in the rimmed crater of his burrow to see if there were hawks circling or coyotes on the prowl and would then pop back down when the coast was clear.

One evening, Elder approached. “I smell a storm coming, Dash.” he said. “Everyone else is prepared. Your burrow entrance still looks weak, and I haven’t seen you gathering food.”

Dash touched noses with Elder in respectful greeting. “I’ll start the first thing in the morning tomorrow,” said Dash. “One more day won’t make a difference.”

Well, that night, the temperature dropped precipitously. Dark clouds rolled in, and the prairie dogs all retreated to their own burrows. Dash curled up in his chamber, but a few hours later he awoke to a cold trickle of water running by his head. More rain came that morning and by the afternoon the rainfall was heavy.

The unprepared entrance of his burrow was now close to collapsing. More water began flowing through his tunnels. Horrified, Dash realized he had no dry chambers. He had also never bothered to store any food.

Dash rushed through the deluge and made it over to Luna’s burrow. His fur was soaked and muddy. “Help!” he cried.

Luna welcomed him inside her warm, dry burrow with its reinforced walls and ample food stores. “You’re lucky,” she said. “Your entire burrow could have collapsed with you inside.”

So, for the rest of that long winter, Dash depended on the kindness of his neighbors. He helped to look after the town’s yearlings and juveniles and he took sentry duty to repay the generosity of his friends.

When spring finally arrived, Dash was the first prairie dog to begin both the planning and digging of his new burrow.

“Starting early this year?” asked Luna, surprised.

“Yes,” said Dash, with a heart now full of wisdom. “I learned that when important work needs doing, there’s no time to wait. We must start now.”

There’s no time to wait. We must start now.

As always,
Brian

P.S. –  There is no time to wait. Get off your duff and start doing the things you were meant to do. Speaking of that, my podcast with Jim Murphy, author of Inner Excellence was just published.

It was my plan to release the audio and the video versions of the episode at the same time, but I realized my current system is not set up for that quite yet. To make sure you don't miss it, go here to listen and to subscribe to my Substack at:

We'll put the video version out over there, too. It will also go to YouTube, 𝕏–Twitter, etc.

I'll notify you when that happens.