Monday, February 18, 2013

Weeding

A few days ago I came across this video about how much life goes better if you don't put off the little chores that you know you need to do. For example, you're going to have to wash your dishes eventually, so why look at them stacked up in the sink all day when you can just do them as soon as you notice they need to be taken care of? Why not deal with and file away each new email as it arrives, rather than letting them pile up in your inbox? The catch phrase (and title) of the video is "Do It Now."

I remembered my mom had a similar saying that she was told growing up on the farm: "Never walk past a weed." That seems more poetic to me, plus it reminds me of my heritage, so naturally I've adopted it as my New Life Plan.

Here's the problem, though: You would not BELIEVE how many weeds are in my house. The first day I tried this, I barely made it out of the bedroom. The kitchen is a minefield of things that need to be cleaned, and especially cooked—yesterday I came home from yoga and got stuck in there for two hours. My office was such a mess of weeds that I enlisted M.H. and Dex on Friday to help me empty it out completely, purge it, clean it, rearrange the furniture, and redecorate it. (The 15-minutes-at-a-time file reorganization continues, however.) I had to deliberately walk past four or five weeds just to get up here and blog sometime this century.

I guess things will get easier as the weed problem gets gradually dealt with. In the meantime, I'm really delighted with my office. It's a little garden of tranquility and productivity right now.

2 comments:

  1. I've been doing this for quite a while and find it really works since for me, it's the nagging little things that will end up pulling me down.

    It does help to have a massive clean to start with though. And no kidlets in situ. Their level of what's acceptable was always way lower than mined which trust me, ain't that high.

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  2. I have a friend who is a professional organizer, "do it now" is her mantra too. However, she suggests a time limit of 20 minutes max when working on large projects. Then take a break or do something fun so that you won't burn out and be overwhelmed by all the projects.

    Also when organizing have on hand 4 boxes. One labeled: Recycle. One labeled: Give Away. One labeled: Throw Away. One labeled: For Another Area. Then for 20 minutes you put away/file what you can toss everything else in one of the boxes and then you won't be leaving the room. Then at the end of the time take box 1 to recycle; box 2 to the trash; box 3 to car to be donated; box for put things in their proper room in their proper place.

    Good luck with your weed pulling!

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