
Photo by Caitlinator
I have really been working to stop procrastinating. I’m trying to tackle tasks as they come up, instead of being scared to death by the big picture. I decided I need to have a To Do List here, so I can encourage myself to get things done. I’m going to start by checking in with my Procrastination List from about a week ago:
Clearing off my desk.Done!- Filing papers.
Doing laundry.Not “done” (is it ever?), but definitely attended to.- Getting tax papers in order. (Of course, I filed an extension!)
- Getting my Girl Scout financials in. (They were due June 30th. I was the Service Unit Manager at the time… basically, the one in charge.)
- Planning our trip to Europe.
- Mowing the lawn. (Luckily, it is pretty much dead right now.)
- Writing my first book.
- Going to the gym.
Getting my car into the shop.Done!
Well, it’s a start! What else needs to be done? Marcia Ramsland, the author of Simplify Your Time: Stop Running and Start Living!, says you should only have 10 things on your list at a time, and that they should all be things that can be done in 15 minutes or less. So instead of “Write my first book,” it should say, “Write a paragraph of my book.” (Ha. Like I could do that in 15 minutes!) Only after one task is accomplished are you supposed to add more tasks.
Here is my new and improved 10-item list. Because this is addressing procrastination, each item on the list has to be something I was avoiding up to this point:
- File papers for 15 minutes.
- Get tax papers in order.
- Mow the lawn.
- Plan a general itinerary for Europe (which countries / which weeks).
- Gather all bank statements for Girl Scouts bank account.
- Do 15 minutes of writing.
- Write up an exercise plan for the gym.
- Talk to Billy re: ClubSport orientation sessions.
- Cancel cable television.
- Get a new faucet for the kitchen.
Whew! That should be enough to get me going for at least a year month week or two.
- {Procrastination} released: We actually got the Europe map out and sat down to hash out the countries each of us most wants to visit. I also churned through some reconciliations at work the first day they came in!
Well done!
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