by Procrastination. Hmmm. Yup. I can be guilty of that. Not for everything, as I can be very selective in my efforts. I think that is pretty common though, it’s much easier to do the things I want to do. Somehow, I can always find the time for those things.
I’m pretty good at all the tricks of avoidance, especially if it involves cleaning. You could say it’s an art, a real talent of mine. If I can, the easiest way to avoid it is to just not go in that particular room, but if I have to, I walk fast, keep my eyes glued to my phone or intentionally shift my glance the other way to keep it out of sight. And I have to say, this works pretty well. At least for a while.
Today the task is the dining room table. It’s the secret flat surface in our home that often becomes the catch-all for beads, paper, things we didn’t want in the kitchen and things that don’t belong here but we’re too tired to put away. Every time it happens I swear to myself that it will be the last time.
This time there are remnants of Christmas on it. The boughs of drying evergreens in the vase, a spool of ribbon, Christmas decorations found after packing all the Christmas things over two weeks ago, beads and jewelry supplies, a pouch of tea from a stocking and some other odds and ends.
Out of sight, out of mind, right? Well it worked for a while but it was starting to bother me. I couldn’t look away and every time I went past it I was exhaling in a pfhhhht. It was starting to play with my good vibes.
My brother, a psychiatrist, gave me some excellent advice years ago. He said, ‘Do the things that are bothering you first’. Such simple, but smart advice and I use it often.
By not taking action, I do tend to build it up in my mind to be more than it really is. Do you ever do that? More time, more work, more stress. Whatever it is. Now of course, I do realize this particular task is rather an unimportant thing in the scheme of life, but the same plan can be used for important things as well. I tend to have a lot of these little tasks that I procrastinate on and then I waste time thinking or worrying about them. Which in turn, leaves me less time to do or work on important things.
Is it my perfectionism? I often can be an all or nothing type person. If I can’t clean the entire room, and clean out every drawer then I won’t do anything. Delaying action is something for me to work on this year, and for today it was time to tackle this table. I had a few minutes so I set my timer for 25 minutes and did whatever I could in that time.
Well, not surprisingly it wasn’t too painful. It was more a matter of sorting and organizing. It did take longer than 25 minutes. By the time the alarm rang I still had a couple of things to put away and some things still needed to be relocated to their rightful location in other parts of the house. I could see the end though, so I kept going. I even did a quick vacuum!
Ta da! And just like that, in 30 minutes, I have my dining room back and I’ve lost that anxious feeling. A giant cleansing breath is in order and a pat on my back.
small steps can lead to big changes
Have you ever tried the timer method? When I do use it, it works so well. I am going to try to implement this method more regularly on these types of mundane things like cleaning, laundry and emptying the dishwasher, but also for the things that are important to me but sometimes get put off like walking, stretching, reading and going for a ride on the Peleton. Wish me luck!
