As a lifelong procrastinator, I learned a long time ago
that the best way to get something done was to break
it down into small segments. Instead of making a
molehill into a mountain, I try to turn a mountain into
several molehills. If, for example, I need to tackle the
garden, I know better than to try to do it in one all-day
marathon. Instead I break it down into small jobs like
pulling weeds for an hour, then later on switch to trimming
back some of the roses. It’s a slow process but
at least it gets done. Eventually. Which is much better
than working myself to death in the beginning, then
burning out and never finishing the task.
I have a theory that we procrastinators have a much
briefer attention span than other folks. You know who
I mean – those people who make To Do lists and then
take great satisfaction in checking off each item on
them before eagerly tackling the next one.
Seriously, what fun is that? Plus, if we could do that,
we wouldn’t be procrastinators, would we?
Breaking chores into several steps works for tasks
like cleaning out drawers, cabinets and closets. You
just decide from the beginning that it’s going to take
you several attempts to sort through all the stuff in
the closet. After all, it took you years to acquire it. Of
course it will take several sessions to undo it.
Recently my husband and I found it necessary to
empty the small entryway closet. I won’t bore you with
why we needed to do this, but I will admit that small
closet was filled with a lot of stuff. We wound up with
piles of jackets and coats, etc. on every surface in our
living room. We have gotten most of the mess sorted
out. Some of it is going to a consignment shop. Other
items will be donated to charity. A few things went
straight into the trash.
All this took several days. I still have to make that
run to the consignment shop. But like Scarlet O’Hara,
“I’ll think about that tomorrow. Tomorrow is another
day!”
Apparently, Scarlet was a world class procrastinator
like me. There are worse flaws. I think
