Have you ever felt like the final details of a project are more overwhelming than any other part of it? For me, it often feels like the last finishing bits of any project can be incredibly daunting, and therefore I sometimes (more than I want to admit) leave things in a not-quite-finished state for far too long.
 Case in point: we recently did a project in our kids’ rooms that involved a lot of purging and reorganizing. (Yay!) To deal with things that needed to go to another part of the house, we used this large laundry basket with the idea of putting things in their correct homes once we were finished with the bedrooms. But once the rooms were done, I felt unmotivated to deal with the basket. (Boo!) This was the least exciting part of our project and involved going to several parts of our home to put things here and there. Boring!
Even my dog seemed to be wondering what was up with this basket. Stop judging me, Chachi!
Quite frankly, I also felt super overwhelmed by that basket! I felt so overwhelmed, in fact, that I left it in the hallway for at least two weeks. Every time I walked past it, it nagged at me, reminding me of this task that needed to be finished. Finally, finally, finally, I dealt with that basket. I set the stopwatch on my phone, grabbed the basket handles and set off to (finally) finish this task!
How long do you think it took me to put everything where it needed to go? Three minutes. Three minutes! I cannot believe I let this basket stay in the hallway (and on my mind!) for so long. This task, which seemed so huge and overwhelming in my mind, was in reality a three-minute chore. (Three minutes!)
I’m surprised at how often a seemingly daunting task actually takes very little time to get done. Getting started is the hardest part. What’s more, that lingering laundry basket of stuff zapped so much energy from me…for two weeks!
My big takeaway: Â leaving something unfinished takes more energy than simply getting it done!
What’s hanging over your head? Is there something nagging at you that you’ve been feeling too overwhelmed or unmotivated to do? Even if it’s much larger than my basket of stuff, is there one step you can take on that project today? Try setting a timer for 5 minutes and just see how much progress you can make. I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Great post, Jen! I love your takeaway – it is so true and yet we often forget that not doing something takes energy! Better to just spend that energy getting it done. 🙂
Thank you, Aby! It always feels so much better once these things are done.
I have to laugh, I literally have a laundry basket full of stuff that needs returning to their rightful places sitting on the floor right behind my chair! (It may or may not have been there for a couple of weeks too…..)
Catherine, I’m so glad I’m not the only one! I hope this weekend gave you the chance to tackle that basket! 🙂
It’s so true! Often the things I dread are actually quite simple to cross off my list. Why do I have to keep relearning this lesson?
Tiffany, some weeks I feel like I’m relearning this lesson on a daily basis. LOL I don’t know why it doesn’t always stick! Thanks for your comment.
Oh yes, this sounds soooo familiar. I have forever Laundry baskets standing around, that need emptying…
Oh, Tina, I’m glad I’m not alone here! Hope you’re feeling more motivated to go empty them!
I have found myself in these same shoes over and over. It looks like I would learn, but yet I continue to struggle with this issue over and over.
I hear you on that, Shirley. I guess we’ll just keep trying in hopes that one day the lesson sticks with no more need to re-learn it. 🙂 Thanks for commenting!