Your Tidying Journey!
Big tasks can leave us with feelings of overwhelm, as if to go on a journey. Along the journey we learn about ourselves and stay focus on what is right in front of us.
There is a strange saying I heard once at a business conference, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” That saying has always stuck with me because it refers to the feeling of overwhelm when facing a task or multiple tasks. That is what we all face regularly in life, isn’t it? So how do we “Eat an elephant?” or attack the overwhelming task? One… bite or step… at… a … time!
So you have been postponing cleaning the house, organizing your closet, decluttering the garage, etc. It can be very overwhelming imagine working through something that makes us feel uncomfortable. The thought is so discouraging, so we procrastinate and play games on our phone, or suddenly feel like doing our favorite hobby, scan the internet, etc. STOP!! There is no need to feel overwhelmed because we are not going to do everything all at once. We can get more done if we break our tasks down into smaller, easier tasks and focus on one small task at a time.
Let’s take out a sheet of paper or “notes” on the smart phone and make a list of all the things that need to get done, then break larger tasks into smaller tasks. Prioritizing the tasks from hardest to easiest. Now let’s look at our list. What is the most difficult task? Let’s say its “cleaning the bathroom”, everyone’s favorite room to clean (I’m being sarcastic). Is the bathroom the dirtiest room in the home or is there another part of the home that needs more attention? What part of the bathroom makes it the most difficult for you? Perhaps you do not like the idea of scrubbing the toilet? Ah ha! Have we just isolated the thing that we really are trying o avoid? What if all a long this was what really bothered us and cleaning every other part of the home wasn’t really as stressful?
Weighing out the pros and cons of tackling cleaning the bathroom first vs. cleaning something else first got us more motivated to clean the bathroom. How does the bathroom actually look? Does it only need to be straightened up plus scrub the toilet, or is there more needed? This can help us decided realistically how much work there really is. We may start to get a clearer picture of what to clean and instantly feel motivated to start.
This is what tackling complex problems look like. Taking the task and dividing it into smaller tasks, then focusing on accomplishing one small step at a time. Even if we begin on a task, only to realize that there is another task greater than that one, we still try our best to stay focused and complete what we have started first. Imperfect action is always more efficient than perfect procrastination. Sure there may be distractions, that is what the paper is also there for. Write the down what new take popped up in our heads, or take notes in our phone, and we will get beck to that task when we finish what we started. this way we see our progressing faster and that is so encouraging!! Finally, after cleaning the bathroom, we think, “hmm that wasn’t so bad!” We feel invigorated and proud of our accomplishment! So much better than starting and stopping every time a new thought pops into our brain, isn’t it?
Each time you accomplish an important task you are moving further into a cleaning and tidying journey! Into your journey you will notice the same habitual habits and find ways to incorporate systems. That comes later. But today we will focus on one small step at a time!
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