Tuesday, October 1, 2013

:: Why “To Do – To DONE?”- Day 1::


I told you in my previous Intro post that I wasn’t sure what I was going to be writing about, except that I was titling this 31 Days Series From:To Do TO: To Done.

You’ll be happy to know that I didn’t go with my first choice of topics… a LIMERICK A DAY FOR 31 DAYS! Yes, that was my first thought, because…I’VE NEVER DONE THIS and I really wanted to commit to writing everyday. ;)

So, FROM: To Do  TO: To Done,  it is! 
1 31 days

This is my own admission of guilt right here…
I Procrastinate…big time.
I Put off ‘til tomorrow…what could perfectly well be done…right now. :/
I get caught up in the “PLANNING STAGES”… as if PERFECT were part of the menu. 
If I could change one thing about myself…it would NOT be my hair, my weight, the way I talk; or very many of my personality quirks. No it would … the way I PROCRASTINATE. 

I know it can be done.
 I say that.  Because, I used to be LATE…EVERYWHERE I WENT. But not long ago…actually, 2007…around this time of year.  I attended a Crown Financial Class at a church family’s home… and part of that class was committing to be ON TIME to every meeting (and the Ending Time was consistent too)
I DIDN’T THINK I’D EVER BE A PUNCTUAL PERSON. But I am now…almost consistently. (There have been a few times…that I’ve been late; and you know what?  IT ACTUALLY BOTHERED ME!!!)  Being NON-punctual never bothered me before.
You know what changed me? The Hostess of the class shared something very insightful with me. 
She said, 

“Being 15 minutes early IS ON TIME. Showing up ‘on time’ (say if it starts at 7:00pm and you get there at 7pm…) YOU’RE LATE.  She followed that with, “Roughly, 30 minutes before start time is EARLY.”

I don’t think, up to that point…I’d ever. been. early. a day in my life!

Am I early now? As a rule…no. But I AM on time. The exception?  Blogging. 
I am late to link parties… usually the day of the scheduled link party is when I finally link up; not the night before, when the hostess first puts the Linky Wizard Live.
I’ve asked myself, WHY?   All I can come up with is PERFECTIONISM.
But “Pat”, you say, “I thought you said Procrastination was the problem?”  Oh my dear reader. It is.
You see, PROCRASTINATION IS THE By-Product of PERFECTIONISM.
If it’s not perfect.  I don’t want to post about it. I don’t want to even do the project if I know it isn’t going to be perfect, why bother?!

Now don’t get me wrong… I have a creative streak in me. Sometimes, I just haven’t gotten the right vibe on how to go about starting a project. Sometimes…money inhibits my creative streak, too. But those can easily become a crutch for me—

and the PERFECT PLANS lie dormant in PROCRASTINATION LIMBO…

The other reason why “To Do TO To Done”???  This!




2013 has been the year for me to get my most coveted project done. I’m oh so proud of it. Mid way through the project (mid-September) my efforts were thwarted and I lost my MOMENTUM.  But I’m proud to say…I’m back on track! 
This is going to be one project on my To Done! list this month.  I can’t wait…I’m almost there. :)

Perhaps you have an issue with perfectionism or procrastination...or you just have a list of things you'd like to move from column A to column B ...from "to do" TO "TO-DONE!"
I'm inviting you to follow along with me... as I finally, learn to do the same.

**edited to say: 
I am going to try to remember to post a link HERE to every day's post for an easy reference guide.



 

*** For other 31 Day Bloggers you can read THE NESTER here. 






"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." ~2 Corinthians 5:17

5 comments:

Melanie said...

The past few years have been years of procrastination for me. Now it is time to move forward and get things done. Looking forward to this journey and your posts for the next month.

NanaDiana said...

I go in streaks of putting things off...but most of the time I just dive in and get it done. I think it's the farm girl in me. lol And I am always EARLY because I dread being LATE...lol Hubby is ALWAYS late because he doesn't like to be EARLY. We make quite a pair- xo Diana

Anonymous said...

I think a limerick a day would be an excellent thing to read, for the record! But I hear ya on the procrastination thing. I have gotten a lot better about being on time to things, but I am still the World's Worst Procrastinator in so many other areas of life. Gah! (Found you on the Nester's linkup!) :-)

Echoes From the Hill said...

I am a procrastinator concerning things that need to be done, that I really don't want to do.
The only way I seem to get them done is to make a list and indicate the day that a few things need to be accomplished. If that list is staring me in the face, I will do the dreaded chores, just to be able to check them off the list.

nancyr

My Repurposed Life said...

My motto is... I don't mind being late, I just don't want to be last. :) So, that let's you know that i'm not very punctual either. I'm also a pretty big procrastinator. I wasn't always this way... I think mine has come with age.
Looking forward to all of your to-dones!

gail