Procrastination is the biggest nemesis in my life. I have always felt that things will get done in their own time, and not a minute before. Having learned that procrastination can cost me time and money also, I have been trying to fight this demon for many years.
I have never been a 'do things right away' kind of person. I don't do the dishes right after supper, and I don't file my taxes on time. *gulp* I know, I know. Those are bad things to *NOT* do right away, but I can't help it. I always think there will be more time to do those things, but there never is. To tell the truth, I would much rather be knitting, watching my son during playgroup than to be cleaning the house, or getting my business files up to date.
This is where my lists come in. I list all the things that I would like to accomplish during a week, and I add to it as other things come up. During my computer time during the day, I will take a 5 to 10 minute break, and try to finish, or at least start, something on the list. It may only be taking something out of the freezer for dinner, but it's a start. I find that when I've started something, I usually keep working on it much longer than the 10 minutes required. Before I know it, the task is somewhere between half and fully accomplished.
One of my upcoming monthly challenges for myself is to de-clutter the house. We have far more stuff than is necessary for a family of four. This task is a daunting one for sure, but it is something that I feel *needs* to be done. There are children's and adult clothes to be sorted, toys to be cleared out and closets to be gone through. I am hoping to be able to get some of the money back from these things by selling them on kijiji, but if it doesn't happen, that's ok too. As long as all of the un-needed stuff leaves our home.
This task will be much more than 5-10 minutes, but I can do it in 5-10 minute increments. This week, I cleared out a particularly bothersome corner of our bedroom that had piles of clothing that had been sitting there for months. That corner did only take about 10 minutes, but it urged me to take on another task, the spare socks. When we moved here almost 2 years ago, we had a garbage bag of socks that hadn't been paired up. Earlier this year, that bag of socks was found in DD2's bedroom closet. I pulled it out and started working on pairing them up, and getting rid of socks that wouldn't fit anyone in our home. DD1 helped, and within an hour, it was finished.
I felt such a sense of accomplishment, I thought, "Imagine what I can do if I de-clutter five minutes at a time". No more procrastinating for me this year. Well, maybe I won't slay the procrastination demon, but at least I'll get some stuff done.
How do you deal with procrastion? Or do you have another demon that kills your time? Share your thoughts please.
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