Don’t look up…..

Posted by Laura on June 17, 2008 · 48 Comments

I go walking with a girlfriend a few mornings a week. We move at a good pace and about half way through we start our journey up a pretty impressive hill. The sidewalk looms ahead of us and doesn’t appear to end. My heart sinks in despair and I begin to drag my feet. As I look ahead at the distance we still have to go I quickly become discouraged and tired. My girlfriend takes the stroller from me half way up to give me a break and eventually we arrive at the top. It feels like it took forever.

Then last week as we started the trek up the hill I got so engrossed in the conversation we were having that I was completely taken by surprise when I realized we’d already reached the top. My girlfriend said to me “look at that, I didn’t even have to take the stroller for you this time”. She was right and I wasn’t even as tired as I usually am. I thought about it for a few moments and it occurred to me that I had been so focused on our conversation that I didn’t have a chance to dwell on what was still to come. I’d kept my eyes down and stayed focused in the moment and not beyond that. What a difference!

If you think about it organizing is very similar to this. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed and discouraged by all we have to do that we simply drag our feet and do nothing. We look around at our spaces and think I’m never going to get to the end. It’s frustrating and draining when the task ahead seems to be more than we can handle.

However today I want to encourage you to keep your eyes down, focusing only on the task at hand. Don’t let the “hill” keep you from taking the necessary steps to move forward. If you are looking at a room that you want to organize, start with a drawer, move to the next drawer, work your way around the room one step at a time.

Just don’t look up, keep moving and before you know it you’ll be at the top giving yourself a pat on the back. You’ll look back on the path you traveled and feel mighty proud of yourself.

And so you should.

You did it!

Filed under Motivation-Encouragement, Organizing · Tagged with Organizing, overwhelmed

What’s your mantra?

Posted by Laura on June 12, 2008 · 43 Comments

Have you ever noticed how the more you have to do, the less you do?

I’ve been so busy lately with year end school activities that my house looks like a bomb went off. Really.

The more overwhelmed I get the more Scrabble on Facebook I just want to sit and play. Seriously, it’s like if I totally focus on something else the mess will just go away. But unfortunately you and I both know it just doesn’t work that way.

I know I have too much on my plate right now because yesterday I did something that I still can’t believe I did. My daughter’s class was going on a field trip and I was asked to meet up with them at the lake with all the picnic lunch supplies (hot dogs, chips, marshmellows, cookies, watermelon, plates, cups, etc..). Sounds easy right? I got everything packed up and organized into boxes, got it all loaded up into the van and away we went. I drove the half hour out and got there just as the very hungry kids in the school bus were pulling in. It was at that precise moment that I realized I’d forgotten one very important thing for a weinie roast. Umm, yah that would be the weiners which by the way are still sitting in the fridge in my basement. I was mortified! Thankfully we were able to get a hold of someone that hadn’t left town yet and they were able to go purchase us some more hot dogs and drive them out, whew. Lunch was a little late but luckily it all worked out in the end.

Yep today is about slowing down. It’s about turning off the computer and getting it together.

Here are a few things I’ll be working on today:

Laundry……

Outgrown clothes……

Outgrown toys…….

A linen closet that needs to be re-organized now that my baby(!) is no longer in his crib…..

Overflowing garbage baskets…..

Dishes….

Rhubarb from the in-laws waiting to be cut up…..

I realize now more than ever that sticking to my daily routines is a must. The feeling of being so overwhelmed that you don’t even know where to begin can bury us. Luckily those negative feelings are just that. I need to replace the negative mantra that blinks so brightly in my mind with something a little more positive and attainable.

Two of my favorite mantras that I constantly use and find very helpful are:

Slow and steady wins the race

and

Eat the frog*

I know it sounds silly but I literally say these over and over and over again when I need to focus. Why? Because if I don’t negative nelly sneaks in to tell me how useless it is and to remind me how tired I am. Gosh that voice is powerful. Block it with reaffirming words and just keep plugging along.

I can do it.

We can do it!

Slow and steady wins the race….

Do you have a mantra that you find yourself repeating in order to get things done?