Paralyzed Procrastinators (and a Giveaway!)
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Hey local gals: I wanted to give a shout out to my new friends I met at my event at the DeWitt School PTA last night. What a fabulous bunch of folks! Also, for any of you Mid-Michigan gals who are interested in some support in the battle of the bulge, I’ll be leading a Made to Crave group that will meet at my church (link on the left sidebar) for seven weeks beginning Monday night, February 28th. This study is designed to go along with whatever healthy eating plan you choose and will enable you to find the ‘want to’ in losing weight. For more info and to see the clever book trailer, click here. If you want info about our local group, email me at [email protected].
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Procrastination:
The act of delaying;
Repeated inactivity resulting in something being put off until a later time;
To fail to accomplish something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness;
To postpone needlessly.
Do you procrastinate?
Have projects you’ve been wanting to get around to tackling but just can’t seem to find the energy to do?
Are there cluttered closets, unwritten thank you notes from Christmas, disorganized storage rooms, filthy shower stalls or a fridge that hasn’t been cleaned for so long now you need a hazardous materials suit and a chisel to get at it?
Why do we procrastinate?
Laziness?
Sometimes.
Boredom (we’d rather play than work)?
Yep.
The task seems too overwhelming?
Uh-huh.
Or how about this one…..we are paralyzed by perfection. I mean we don’t want to do the thing unless we can do the thing perfectly.
So there sits the thing…..undone.
How about we pinky promise that this weekend we will carve out a slice of time to get off of our duffs and bravely venture into the frustrating world of our persistent procrastination.
Here are a few tips that have helped me.
~ Break it down into bite-size chunks. When the chore seems insurmountable, take it one step at a time. Maybe you won’t be able to totally re-organize your entire pantry, clean out the fridge and freezer, sort through and re-align all of your dishes and cooking utensils and spit shine the floors, countertops and appliances this weekend, but I’ll bet you could at least tackle the kitchen junk drawer. Or pick one of the aforementioned projects to accomplish.
Baby steps now…
~ Next set a timer and tell yourself you’ll stop when it rings. Yep, experts assert that if you set a timer for just 20-30 minutes and dive into you task, after a few minutes the momentum you feel by seeing progress can be all the push you need to find the desire to finish the thing entirely.
~ Find a friend. You surely must know a fellow procrastinator. Buddy up. Go to her house for an hour or two to help her tackle a nasty or frustrating chore. Then, swing by a coffee shop, re-fuel and head to your place to work on your project for a while.
~ Reward yourself. Promise yourself that after the task is complete, you’ll treat yourself to something fun. Rent a movie, curl up with a magazine and cup of something steamy, or buy yourself that cute pair of earrings you wanted the other day.
~ Be patient. Your home didn’t get cluttered in a day and it won’t de-clutter itself overnight. But with a little planning, some “gumption and elbow grease” as my momma used to say, and a few weekends, you can finally begin to kiss procrastination goodbye!
Now for the giveaway:
Since I firmly believe that women often aren’t willing to have others over for some good ‘ole fashioned hospitality due to their procrastination projects staring them in the face and making them feel defeated, I want to give away the following to three of you who leave a comment this weekend (yes, I’m feeling generous!)
~A personalized, signed copy of my book A Life That Says Welcome; Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others. This book is not only on hospitality, it also has chapters on dejunking, cleaning, decorating and tons of easy, crowd-pleasing recipes. Oh, and it also tells the tale of my marrying into a gourmet family full of interior decorators, Bed & Breakfast owners and fancy cooks…..when I barely knew how to boil water!
~ And a $10 Target gift card so you can purchase either supplies for your project or a little reward for yourself.
So, here is the dealio…..leave a comment telling us the procrastination project you most want to tackle. Three of you will be chosen at random by my random integer selector (my boys give me a random number! I have no clue how to use random integer selectors so I improvise!).
Comment away….. I’m off….um….er….well…to write those Christmas thank you notes. Slightly embarrassing coming from someone who speaks and writes on organization, but hey…I’m just keepin’ it real people.
Happy Weekend!
Oh my…I can TOTALLY relate to this statement:
“Or how about this one…..we are paralyzed by perfection. I mean we don’t want to do the thing unless we can do the thing perfectly.”
A recovering perfectionist, I’m still plagued by this syndrome.
As for my project – we moved into a new house 2 months ago, and my office/craft room is still in boxes. It’s overwhelming to look at. But, I’ll start tackling chunk-by-chunk this weekend! I pinky promise!
RE-organizing my kitchen. I would like to move some things from one cabinet to another cabinet, but it just seems like too big of a job! :)
This is encouragement I needed to hear today! I have a spare bedroom that needs to be tackled to prepare for baby’s arrival — in 6 weeks! I have been finding a lot of excuses to avoid the project, but I really need to just do the “bite-size chunk” thing and get started. I know it will take a lot of stress off of me at the end of this pregnancy.
Hi Karen – My stressful ‘undone thing’ is a set of three boxes in the garage from my husband’s funeral seven years ago. Ugh. I have set it there until I have time/energy/ability to go through it. Obviously that never happens. Seven years? I think it’s time w/ God’s help to unpack it all, cry some (more) tears, save some memories for my girls, make a shadowbox, and throw those tattered boxes away.
OMGosh! I need to tackle my closet….16 years of piling STUFF in there and I am too scared to get going! Thanks for the tips….I hope I can one day get to try them! :)
Thanks so much for this message today, as I type this in my paralyzingly (is that a word?) cluttered office. I have big visions of what it can and should look like, but cant figure out the logistics of how to make that happen so I just keep the door shut. Your book sounds wonderful, and I hope I am one of the lucky winners!!
Wall paper removal in the bathroom! I have it half done (for the last 2 years) and now have the top half (that i can’t reach except for a ladder straddled over the tub) left to do. Burnt myself with the steamer that was supposed to loosen the paper so i am a little “gun shy” to climb that ladder with the tool that can hurt me and balance precariously and pull and tug, and not fall…..and not burn myself…. and not take all the paper off the wallboard as well as the wall paper. Talk about needing Grace to get this done (or maybe just a swift kick in the toosh!)
Ha, what a timely message for me!! I swore,I was going to get organized this year. I refuse to live another year like the last one!! It made me crazy! I would love a copy of your book! I’ve been going to buy it, but haven’t had the extra funds to do so! I also swore this year I was going to entertain more. I’m a very social person and love having people over, but just don’t ever get around to it! But this year is going to be different!! So far, I have started on my closet and cleaned out a few of the extra sizes!! lol (found two pairs of jeans that I can now get in too which had holes around the zipper area. Why did I save them? Not a clue.) Started cleaning out and organizing the spare bedroom and finished the front closet last night!! Yeah! I love progress! Still have a LONG way to go, but feel inspired after your blog today!! Thanks! Have a great weekend!
Closets, closets, closets!! Bedroom and linen closets.
It is so funny you write about this because this morning as I could not find my keys, late to work and still had to pack a lunch I told my husband this weekend I am making an effort to get our office reclaimed on Saturday and our bathroom the next since those are the two places that have become blackholes in my life.
I’m usually really good about getting thank you’s out in a timely matter but not this time. I have a list (which I currently can’t find) of thank you’s to write after welcoming our second daughter into this world. Need to get that done before she gets too old.
The other bigger project I really want to tackle is our front closet. Just this morning my husband was asking if I’d seen something and told him it was probably in that closet. He didn’t even bother looking for it.
I almost put off reading this blog….till later!! Thanks for the “Encouragement….aka KICK” this morning!! Baby Steps….. the timer thing is a great idea!! Thanks again.
So many projects, which one to choose? I am a classic paralyzed procrastinator. I would like to start this weekend on the piles of papers (don’t want to decide what to toss) that are cluttering my kitchen countertops and any other horizontal surface in our dining area. They scream “failur” to me every time I walk in the door. If that goes well I may also tackle the “black hole” room we call our office. More papers! Thanks for the challenge to do this instead of going shopping and bringing home more stuff to find a home for!
I have an office that I’ve been wanting to turn into a bedroom for my son. It’s become a junk room for everything we want, don’t want, neee, and don’t need. I seriously need to just tackle this space. It is only one of many spaces needing some TLC but I think it will be a starting place that can snowball into a decluttered house.
:)
ugh! I managed to tackle my craft/office/art room in the basement over Christmas break. But, now to the storage room that’s full of boxes and boxes of stuff we don’t need! If, I find the energy :)
Many projects to tackle :-) I’d love to sort through all of my cassette tapes to see if any still need a home here or need to find an new home.
Just last weekend , my husband was out of town. I tackled cleaning out my closet. This was a huge project. It was also embarassing how many bags of purses, clothes and shoes will be going to purple heart and the local clothes closet. But after hours of organizing that closet and then cleaning it, I realized I need to do this with my heart. Thanks for th reminder. My prayer is that I can apply this daily.
Recently we moved across country and while we are finally out of all the boxes, I still have yet to tackle our household filing cabinet. It just seems overwhelming, plus I hate having to go through all the junk we’ve accumulated. I like the idea of setting up a timer. I know that I won’t finish it in one session but if I tackle a little bit every day, it will eventually get done. I would love your giveaway to help me feel confident in my new home. thanks for your ideas.
Hi Karen! Wow- procrastination is a big one for me. My husband and I just adopted two teenagers and now my little organized world has turned upside down! I’m constantly praying for God’s wisdom and clarity to give me guidance on time management when it comes to getting all the chores completed. I need to: clean the fridge, clean the bathrooms, clean my closet, mop and steam the tile floors, and that’s just the inside- I haven’t touched the outside in months! Life is crazy right now and with only two days off a week- it’s getting crazier. I believe with all my heart that organization and a clean living environment leads to clarity, peace, and comfort. I really need some guidance on accomplishing these things since we adopted the kids! Please pray for me. This weekend I will attempt at cleaning the fridge!!!
I have tons of stuff that I’ve procrastinated on. I need to go through my clothes in both dresser and closet. I need to dejunk and simplify my life. I want to continue sewing and completing projects…
O laundry, how you scare me! Thanks for all your encouraging words!!
We need to redo our baby boy’s room into a guest room, but I am overwhelmed by his stuff, the memories, and what needs to be done! He’s 26 and hasn’t lived at home since he left for college 8 years ago, for Heaven’s sake! (We accomplished this last winter with older son’s room…with tears!) I attempted to do some work in there a few weeks ago and found pictures of a mission trip he went on before he started high school…tears!! This sentimental mommy needs to get busy and work through the tears….again!!!
This describes me to a “T”. I get to rolling & then I get sidetracked, it takes forever to get my momentum going again. I have an extra incentive but there it is, the “Paralyzing Fear of Perfection”. I am always afraid of not being good enough, house not clean enough, fear of rejection, fear of being judged, shortages of money to decorate like I want so I don’t put myself out there, I retreat & withdraw. This all or nothing atitude has got to cease – speak to me Karen! Get me motivated!
The thing I put off most is going thru old mail to see what is still inportant or what could be thrown away. I know that a great deal of it is old sales flyers, old junk mail, but we tend to pile it up and leave it for a while, then I have trouble motivating myself to go thru and purge anything that is truly i=unimportant.
Piles, boxes, and bags of papers. And my office stuff. And the filing cabinet. Did I mention PAPER?? Anyway, I have a different reason for my procrastination. It’s basically that I am overworked with other things that take priority. It’s hard to attack a pile of papers when kids need fed, I’ve been out to work all day, laundry needs done, and the bathroom needs cleaned. When all of that is accomplished, all I want to do is fall into bed and sleep! Maybe I will have to set a timer for five minutes a couple of times a week and consider it better than nothing. You don’t need to enter me in your drawing – I already have the book. :)