There was an interesting question that I came across recently...
It asks: "Is your backlog turning into a logjam?"
The thing with having so much on our plates is that
we tend to put things off.
I had a talk with my son the other night.
We talked about procrastination.
His grades at school are slipping
because of his procrastination habits.
It's fine to not want to do something.
We often opt to do the things we enjoy
rather than the things we don't enjoy.
The problem here is that the things we don't enjoy
are often the most necessary.
Sure, it's necessary to enjoy ourselves from time to time
but if we're more concerned about enjoying ourselves
then the things we are supposed to be doing
that aren't enjoyable, are not getting done.
For an example. I don't enjoy getting rid of my clutter.
HOWEVER, I know I must do it.
The longer I put off doing it, the longer it still needs to be done.
Whether I do it now, or weeks from now, it still needs to be done.
I've been sorting my paperwork and recycling.
Those two things are small tasks, but they affect the whole task.
Instead of trying to tackle everything at once,
we can do things in steps or stages. Each day.
A little bit can go a really long way.
And when we do these little tasks, we start feeling better
because we feel relieved of the necessity it has over us.
I've kept things all my life. I'm not sure if it is a personality thing
or how the rest of my family is. It could be something else.
I know my Grandfather was a hoarder of sorts.
He kept things. Things he didn't really need.
After he passed away in '98, the family got together and went through
all of the things he kept over the years. We found boxes of things
in the garage. Things in the basement, things in the attic, etc.
There were boxes of just wine glasses and wine making equipment.
There were books galore. You name it, he had it or a few of them.
We had to have garage sales and estate sales.
We sold the wine glasses for a dime a piece because there were dozens.
We just wanted them to go, get sold. It was too much.
My life has become like this. It's getting crazy.
Having so much stuff that I don't know what to do with.
I was talking about this to a neighbour a little while ago.
I told him I was downsizing, sorting, recycling etc.
He inherited all his mother's belongings when she passed away.
From what I've heard, his mother was a full blown hoarder.
He said that he has a full room, stacked with stuff.
I told him he could always go through it and sell some of it.
He says he keeps 'meaning to' go through it all.
But he gets distracted watching videos on the computer.
I said that I'll allow myself to watch a few, then do something,
then watch a few more during a break, then do some more.
Otherwise I'd get nothing done except watching videos.
He was saying that 1 video turns into 20 videos
and before he knows it, he has to go to bed
to get up the next day to go to work. Then the cycle repeats.
Also, with people who work full time, they don't 'want to'
come home just to work some more. I get that.
That's part of the reason I got to this point.
Being a single mother, I only had so much energy.
Working full time, I only had so much energy.
I get that. I understand it. I've lived it.
THIS is WHY a little bit goes a long way.
Like today I will only do... a, b, or c.
Tomorrow I will only do... d, e, or f. So on and so forth.
Like what I've been doing.
Today, I will only get all my paperwork together in one room.
Tomorrow, I will sort my paperwork into categories.
The next day, I will decide what paperwork I will recycle.
The day after, I will recycle that paperwork.
Or, today, I will clean out the bathroom closet.
The next day, I will decide what I want to keep.
The day after, I will donate or disperse of those things I don't need.
It may take a few days,
but the point is that we don't have to do everything in one day.
AND stuff actually gets done.
How long we take doing those steps each day is up to us.
We can take 20 minutes doing it, then take a break.
Then after the break, take 20 more minutes, then another break.
Our ability to focus and concentrate are what helps us get through it,
and get things done.
People's attention spans used to be a lot longer.
Now, since there is constant stimulation and constant distractions,
we tend to be able to focus less and concentrate less.
With certain inventions like the television and the internet...
People who lived without these things could concentrate a lot more.
There was something else that came to my attention recently,
It was about how the journey is about the goal
AND the power of feelings.
How we are being called to get 'back to basics.'
To simplify our lives. To let go of complexity.
And to let go of this endless search
of looking for the answers outside ourselves.
Because outside ourselves is not where the answers are.
Sure we can be guided by outside forces,
but look where they guide us! Back to ourselves.
My son said he wants to stop procrastinating,
but he says it is so hard and he can't stop.
The only way he will stop is when he makes the choice.
When he chooses the rewards of taking action
especially when he doesn't 'feel like' taking action.
Either we choose the rewards of working towards something
or we choose to add it to the backlog.
But we MUST remember that EVERYTHING
we add to the backlog, is what CREATES the logjam.
Logjams aren't created instantaneously.
They are created over time.
Every time we say "I feel like doing something else."
I think of a logjam as actual logs jammed together,
reducing the 'flow' significantly.
If we just ran them all through one at a time,
they wouldn't have piled up to the point
that it takes longer to unjam them
than it would have to deal with them all one at a time.
I told my son, "Yes, it is hard. Everything is hard
when we first start doing it.
But the more we do it, the easier it gets."
The keys to fighting procrastination are:
Patience, Persistence, and Perseverance.
They say patience is a virtue,
but I'm pretty sure persistence and perseverance are, too.
Sure, everything takes time, but it's up to us
to either find the time or make the time.
We have time to use it, not to waste it.
We can't get time back. It's precious.
I can't stress how precious time is.
It takes time to cultivate ANYTHING.
Cultivation is pretty much the word of the year.
To grow a plant, you need to plant the seeds,
water the seeds, give the plant sunlight.
Then wait as we watch it grow.
Isn't it exciting to see that little tiny sprout?
That tiny bit of proof that progress is being made.
SEEDS = Intention
WATER+SUN = Maintenance, Persistence
TIME = Patience
RESULT = Culmination of Perseverance
Importantly, we have to do things despite how we feel.
Most of the time to get the feelings we want,
we have to do the things that create those feelings.
Instead of waiting to have those feelings
in order to do those things.
Doing those things is what allows us to feel the way we want to!
It isn't about feeling the way we want to first.
That comes after we do the things we have to do.
It asks: "Is your backlog turning into a logjam?"
The thing with having so much on our plates is that
we tend to put things off.
I had a talk with my son the other night.
We talked about procrastination.
His grades at school are slipping
because of his procrastination habits.
It's fine to not want to do something.
We often opt to do the things we enjoy
rather than the things we don't enjoy.
The problem here is that the things we don't enjoy
are often the most necessary.
Sure, it's necessary to enjoy ourselves from time to time
but if we're more concerned about enjoying ourselves
then the things we are supposed to be doing
that aren't enjoyable, are not getting done.
For an example. I don't enjoy getting rid of my clutter.
HOWEVER, I know I must do it.
The longer I put off doing it, the longer it still needs to be done.
Whether I do it now, or weeks from now, it still needs to be done.
I've been sorting my paperwork and recycling.
Those two things are small tasks, but they affect the whole task.
Instead of trying to tackle everything at once,
we can do things in steps or stages. Each day.
A little bit can go a really long way.
And when we do these little tasks, we start feeling better
because we feel relieved of the necessity it has over us.
I've kept things all my life. I'm not sure if it is a personality thing
or how the rest of my family is. It could be something else.
I know my Grandfather was a hoarder of sorts.
He kept things. Things he didn't really need.
After he passed away in '98, the family got together and went through
all of the things he kept over the years. We found boxes of things
in the garage. Things in the basement, things in the attic, etc.
There were boxes of just wine glasses and wine making equipment.
There were books galore. You name it, he had it or a few of them.
We had to have garage sales and estate sales.
We sold the wine glasses for a dime a piece because there were dozens.
We just wanted them to go, get sold. It was too much.
My life has become like this. It's getting crazy.
Having so much stuff that I don't know what to do with.
I was talking about this to a neighbour a little while ago.
I told him I was downsizing, sorting, recycling etc.
He inherited all his mother's belongings when she passed away.
From what I've heard, his mother was a full blown hoarder.
He said that he has a full room, stacked with stuff.
I told him he could always go through it and sell some of it.
He says he keeps 'meaning to' go through it all.
But he gets distracted watching videos on the computer.
I said that I'll allow myself to watch a few, then do something,
then watch a few more during a break, then do some more.
Otherwise I'd get nothing done except watching videos.
He was saying that 1 video turns into 20 videos
and before he knows it, he has to go to bed
to get up the next day to go to work. Then the cycle repeats.
Also, with people who work full time, they don't 'want to'
come home just to work some more. I get that.
That's part of the reason I got to this point.
Being a single mother, I only had so much energy.
Working full time, I only had so much energy.
I get that. I understand it. I've lived it.
THIS is WHY a little bit goes a long way.
Like today I will only do... a, b, or c.
Tomorrow I will only do... d, e, or f. So on and so forth.
Like what I've been doing.
Today, I will only get all my paperwork together in one room.
Tomorrow, I will sort my paperwork into categories.
The next day, I will decide what paperwork I will recycle.
The day after, I will recycle that paperwork.
Or, today, I will clean out the bathroom closet.
The next day, I will decide what I want to keep.
The day after, I will donate or disperse of those things I don't need.
It may take a few days,
but the point is that we don't have to do everything in one day.
AND stuff actually gets done.
How long we take doing those steps each day is up to us.
We can take 20 minutes doing it, then take a break.
Then after the break, take 20 more minutes, then another break.
Our ability to focus and concentrate are what helps us get through it,
and get things done.
People's attention spans used to be a lot longer.
Now, since there is constant stimulation and constant distractions,
we tend to be able to focus less and concentrate less.
With certain inventions like the television and the internet...
People who lived without these things could concentrate a lot more.
There was something else that came to my attention recently,
It was about how the journey is about the goal
AND the power of feelings.
How we are being called to get 'back to basics.'
To simplify our lives. To let go of complexity.
And to let go of this endless search
of looking for the answers outside ourselves.
Because outside ourselves is not where the answers are.
Sure we can be guided by outside forces,
but look where they guide us! Back to ourselves.
My son said he wants to stop procrastinating,
but he says it is so hard and he can't stop.
The only way he will stop is when he makes the choice.
When he chooses the rewards of taking action
especially when he doesn't 'feel like' taking action.
Either we choose the rewards of working towards something
or we choose to add it to the backlog.
But we MUST remember that EVERYTHING
we add to the backlog, is what CREATES the logjam.
Logjams aren't created instantaneously.
They are created over time.
Every time we say "I feel like doing something else."
I think of a logjam as actual logs jammed together,
reducing the 'flow' significantly.
If we just ran them all through one at a time,
they wouldn't have piled up to the point
that it takes longer to unjam them
than it would have to deal with them all one at a time.
I told my son, "Yes, it is hard. Everything is hard
when we first start doing it.
But the more we do it, the easier it gets."
The keys to fighting procrastination are:
Patience, Persistence, and Perseverance.
They say patience is a virtue,
but I'm pretty sure persistence and perseverance are, too.
Sure, everything takes time, but it's up to us
to either find the time or make the time.
We have time to use it, not to waste it.
We can't get time back. It's precious.
I can't stress how precious time is.
It takes time to cultivate ANYTHING.
Cultivation is pretty much the word of the year.
To grow a plant, you need to plant the seeds,
water the seeds, give the plant sunlight.
Then wait as we watch it grow.
Isn't it exciting to see that little tiny sprout?
That tiny bit of proof that progress is being made.
SEEDS = Intention
WATER+SUN = Maintenance, Persistence
TIME = Patience
RESULT = Culmination of Perseverance
Importantly, we have to do things despite how we feel.
Most of the time to get the feelings we want,
we have to do the things that create those feelings.
Instead of waiting to have those feelings
in order to do those things.
Doing those things is what allows us to feel the way we want to!
It isn't about feeling the way we want to first.
That comes after we do the things we have to do.
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