7/30/11

Anti-Procrastination August
I read an article a few months ago, written by a woman who had been putting off several chores and items on her to-do list. Sick to death of not getting things done because she didn't have time or it was a pain or the errands were on different sides of town, she put aside a Saturday to do it all. She took her list, set aside an entire day, and vowed not to come home until it was done.

This spoke to me.

We all have those little things that add up to big things because they're constantly put off for later. I'm great at scheduling doctors appointments and going to meetings and cleaning the house and making meals three times a day and watering the plants and feeding the dog and doing the laundry and answering email and putting gas in the car and helping the kids with music lessons and 100 other things. So something has to fall by the wayside. And what falls by the wayside? Things that don't need to be done right away and therefore don't get done.

I can't set aside a Saturday to get all my items crossed off my list. First of all, my list is way too long. I can't get it done in one day. Second of all, the only time I get chill time with David is on Saturday, so I'm not giving that up for anything. But I can devote the month of August to finally tackle my procrastination list and get 'er done. (That is a phrase I never ever thought would come out of my mouth, let alone put on a public blog.)

Here's my list. NO JUDGING!


  • Apply for Zinabu's Certificate of Citizenship. For my ramblings on this, go here. And I said no judging.
  • Update our will and trust. 
  • Fix the broken window in our basement. Long story, but it's a double-paned window and only the inner pane is broken so it's been easy to put off.
  • Install some kind of filter on our computer to keep the porn away. We supervise computer use, but you never know what will creep in. Did I ever tell you about the time I was looking up a recipe and wound up at a "Girls, Girls, Girls" site? Yeah. A recipe, for Pete's sake. It grosses me out.
  • Finish organizing our digital photos on our computer. I started but have a bit more to do.
  • Create memory boxes of my kids' elementary school years. I have the piles. I just need to put them in something in a year-by-year format.
  • Craigslist the kid stuff we no longer need but could get some money from. Like our B.O.B jogging stroller and North Face sleeping bags. 
  • Go to the new IKEA that just opened. {OK, kidding.}
  • Update my address book. You know, all the torn out return address labels from holiday cards that are held together by a rubber band and stuck haphazardly in my desk. I need to clean that up.
There you have it. My "must do" list compiled in one spot and a list that I must get done by the end of August.  Feel free to join the challenge. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

9 comments:

jayme said...

You can do it!

My to do list is about three miles long and mostly has to do with cleaning/ purging/ selling random stuff we've accumulated over the years. I've been tackling one room at a time, and have made a lot of good progress thus far, but still have tons of work to do. It gets overwhelming really quickly.

I'm actually pretty sure I'm going to be doing 30 days of nothing in August. Wish me luck with that one...

jayme said...

oh, and I've been meaning to do a post on how I store the twins' artwork. Basically, I have a large underbed storage type box for bigger projects, and anything that's 8.5 x11 I put into clear plastic sleeves in 3 ring binders. I have one per year for each kid, and I love how they show the progress of their fine motor skills over time.

Eventually I'd love to have one big piece of art made out of all their little pieces of art. There are several different companies that do that, but it can get pretty pricey.

Oh, and I've completely given up on organizing digital photos. I don't think that's ever going to happen. I can't even get organized enough to write a blog post about our trip....ugh!

Bridget said...

Oh my God! I love this! I am SO in. This is exactly the kind of challenge I need right now. I'm IN!!

hotflawedmama said...

Love this. Might have to try something similar, and you'll seriously judge me for what will go on mine. :)

rebekah said...

The only thing on my list is to get Dagem's social security number. I could have a tremendously long list, but I am acutely aware of how insane my 'quiet' August is turning out to be. And I MUST have that # by October 15th. So I'll come back here and expect a rousing slap on the back when I do the one thing on my list. Thank you.

Two Little Birds said...

Hi! Coming out of lurkdom to introduce myself. I occasionally peek at your great blog as I get a kick out of your CO references. We spend many a summer at our family condo in Dillon. We are usually biking from town to town, so we might have even passed along the way! Anyhow, I love this post and you even inspired me to write my (very, VERY) long "to-do" list today - accumulated from months of procrastination. Thanks!

Melodie Monberg said...

I hear you on that list...We have put off getting Desta's certificate because of the price tag with it and the 400 page application...yikes! Doing it this August though!

You can do it...baby steps...

It's funny, your list looked like mine last year and we had to do it because we moved...see, just have to move and it will get done!

Good luck!

Melodie Monberg said...

I just read Jayme's artwork storage thing...I just saw a friend had put all her kid's artwork from the year into a bound notebook. She took it all the Kinko's..had them laminate and bind it.

That is on my to do list for my kid's artwork this year. I'm tired of having little pieces around and feeling like I'll never find them all again.

fiddlehead said...

Awesome!!!! love this....I am going to jump on board and try something like this myself. I NEED to especially while I still have some summer sitters around!
love your blog!