As a child I read the book "Goose Goofs Off" by Jaquelyn Reinach and Richard Hefter in the Sweet Pickles Series. Goose's favorite line is, "I'm taking it easy today, I'll do it tomorrow!" Much to the dismay of her neighbors and the postman. And as nice as it would be to think we could put everything off for one day that really only compounds our problems. You can see by the illustrations that it's not paying off for Goose either. She's got more stuff on her floors than she has put away, her tv's broken and the food is spoiling all over the kitchen. She can't even enjoy a relaxing day because she can't do the things she wants to do. Does this sound like you? Are you overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you have to do? Do you think if you just had a little while to enjoy some fun that you would be able to get it done? That rarely works out. One of the best things to do is to accomplish something small and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. I've read lots of books on organization and time management as well as numerous blogs and online articles. I particularly like some of the tips the "FLY Lady" gives on her website: http://www.flylady.net. Her "shine the sink" activity is meant to apply the quick feeling of accomplishment and to help you wake up to a feeling of accomplishment. She also suggest working on assignments in 15 minute increments, for 3 sessions (45 minutes) then taking a 15 minute break and rewarding yourself with a cup of tea or some time reading a book. Then if you have more time repeat. One note of caution: There is a large volume of email to read if you sign up for her daily emails, if you are already inundated with email skip this and check her website every morning for tips and missions, even if you get the daily digest it's a lot to read. My favorite quote from Flylady is: "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where you are." I think this is a great reminder for all of us. I think we're all likely to let the big picture cloud our ability to just do one small task and be relieved by it. The best thing about doing 1 thing is that it has the ability to inspire you to do 1 more thing and soon 1 thing has become 10 things or 1 whole room and soon 1 whole room, becomes your whole house.
Two last quotes to think about:
"Nothing is more fatiguing than the hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~ William James
"It's not what we do that makes us tired, it's what we don't do. The tasks we don't complete cause the most fatigue." ~Steve Chandler
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