Posted by Racer on October 24, 1999, at 22:34:56
In reply to Re: Finances, messy rooms & messy minds.., posted by Noa on October 23, 1999, at 20:27:58
Hm, this is one that I struggle with, too...
One thing that does seem to help me is to write a list of every single task I have to do. I make it a big nasty stinking list, too. Nothing general on it, no 'clean kitchen', but every task involved. It's not 'clean kitchen', but 'wash dishes', 'put away groceries', 'bag papers for recycling', 'wipe counters', 'put away dry dishes', 'wash cat bowls', 'mop floors', etc. That way, although it's really intimidating to see the length of the list, when I look at any item on it, it's a doable item. I know that washing dishes takes maybe 10 minutes, tops. Nothing too horrible there, right? The other good thing is that if I ever have any energy, I can do five or ten items on the list in under an hour. That way, I can see all the items getting crossed off the list. That's a great feeling. When the list gets short enough that I can't find anything on it to do at a time that I can see doing something, I transfer all the leftovers to a new list, and then I have a bright and shiny new list of easy things to do.
The one caveat I have about this one: I tried a few times to make my usual, anal, accountant style outline list, you know: (heading one) Clean Kitchen (subhead) wash dishes, etc. Your basic outline. This was a disaster! I could suddenly see how much would be involved in cleaning the kitchen, and guess what? It wasn't until I made the other kind of list that you could walk into my kitchen again! KISS, 'Keep it simple, Stupid', is the operative concept here...
It might be worth a try, if only because it might be something you haven't tried before. If you try it and it helps, I will give, bequeath, and transfer usage title to you at no charge! I'll also be curious to know if it does help.
One other thing that I had to do for this to work for me: I had to start looking at what I had done, what I had accomplished, how many items were crossed off the list. Otherwise, I'd look around the kitchen or the living room, and I'd get overwhelmed again. It's not what the room looks like when you're in that state, but how much you've actually done. The written list helps because it reminds you that you've actually completed, say, six items this week, even if you still look around and see mess. (Oh, that's another thing: I never put a time limit on these lists. They may even have total long term items, like 'sew a new green dress', or 'knit a nice, lacy tunic length sweater'... These are designed as LOW PRESSURE lists, just to remind me of what to do, not when to do it. And if I can't sleep, I'll get up and do something on the list...)
Good luck, and you have my total empathy on this one!
poster:Racer
thread:13714
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991016/msgs/13811.html