Great, I think I can find the 10 minutes, but what will I do?
You probably have a few types of goals, one that is steady-state (such as meditate every day), another that is fairly consistent but can be accomplished in many different ways (such as strengthening friendships – that could mean calling a friend one day, sending a congratulations card to a friend another day, and baking cookies for friend’s birthday another day), and finally, there’s the kind where you have to get from Point A to Point B. Sometimes a project like this can seem so overwhelming that you just stay in a state of inertia.
This happened for me with our vegetable garden. I knew I wanted to plant one (addressing goals of “Eat healthier” and “Create special family time”). But the details just kept whooshing around in my head – What size planter? What to plant? What kind of soil? How deep does the planter need to be? How do I irrigate it? And on and on.
This goal has been in the back of my mind for years. If I couldn’t do it perfectly, I was afraid to do it at all.
I finally had to decide that “good enough” would do and that it would get better over time. My grandmother and my mother often said, “Well begun is half done” and I have always found this to be true. We feel so much pressure before we embark on something, and so much of that stress is lifted just by getting into the work.
There’s so much step-by-step information on the internet, too. Type in “How to paint a room” and at least the first 10 results are great how-to guides. Sites like Wikihow.com, about.com, ehow.com, howstuff works.com and youtube.com are all helpful.
I’d only suggest doubling or tripling the time estimates they give. Maybe it’s just me, but I never finish a recipe or a project in the Olympic-record time given and always feel so defeated when I don’t. They must have a staff doing their prepping, or a very well-stocked pantry.
The main goal is “advance the ball” little by little toward your goal. You’ll see that it’s more about continuing on the journey than having each step exactly right. You may lay out one plan, and by Day 2, you realize there’s a better way.
So here’s sampling of goals and ways to achieve them…
Plan a vacation with girlfriends
- Day 1: email girlfriends to see who’s up for it, where they’d like to go, and throw out four weekends to check availability
- Day 2: Read responses ; now you have direction on who/what/when
- Day 3-4: Putter on the internet. Just for the heck of it, I typed in “girlfriend vacation snorkeling” and found (just below “Mark and ex Girlfriend Snorkeling” – ok, so it’s not a perfect search) “Top 10 Girlfriend Getaways” and “Girlfriend Getaways in the Caribbean”.
- Day 5: Email friends with three options
- Day 6: Get feedback
- Day 7: Make reservation.
So the trip that you’ve been talking about for years can be booked in a week! Even if it takes three times that long, you’ve still got a plan in less than a month, after talking about it for years!
Create a peaceful and orderly home…
- Clean out one drawer a day
- Move two things a day to the giveaway pile
- Clean out fridge
- Wipe off light switches throughout house (please don’t tell me I’m the only one who has sticky fixtures)
- Organize the spice drawer
- Organize under the bathroom sink/kitchen sink
- Throw out stuff in the garage
The clutter that has seemed overwhelming — it’s everywhere you look — can be conquered just a few minutes at a time, one day at a time…