One weekend I sat down and created a ‘to do’ list of all the little tasks I was behind in that were cluttering my life, physically and mentally. I had over 50 items at first and added more as they came up. A lot were menial things but they were causing a lot of drag in my life. I managed to complete most of it (maybe 2/3) in a week or 2 where before I would have struggled to just get my laundry done or one of them in a weekend. (I had a lot of energy for it in the first 2 weeks and committed the entire weekends to The List) Bit by bit as I completed them I got rid of the negative ‘clutter energy’ they represented, learned a little discipline and simplified my life. I strongly believe in the principal that you need to clear the clutter, literally and figuratively, from your life in order to move forward.

One big example was to complete setting up my balcony for the summer. I had trouble deciding what and how to do it and making purchases of furniture etc. (Decision making has always been a bit of an issue for me.) It has been used as a dumping ground/storage for a few years and was a daily eyesore and reminder of the state of my life. I stuck to it and now it is cleaned, furnished, decorated and planted and I enjoy it every day. My neighbors have all commented on it and it is now a daily reminder or what I can accomplish if I make an effort; a testament to the process of making consistent little improvements over time. I had my list to keep referring to when I needed focus on what my objectives were. As I mentioned, I even wrote down the littlest task so when I was really low energy I could refer to The List and at least do one small improvement. I began to notice that instead of having a bunch of things I needed to do that just seemed to overwhelm me, I had a bunch of things done that I was either enjoying or were no longer nagging at me. Now I am working on applying those techniques to my career and most other areas of my life as there is a lot I need to change. I’ve got a lot to do but I’ve got my balcony there as a daily reminder of what will happen if I do the very basic thing. Stand up, take a step, repeat.

The whole thread is http://www.motivationtomove.com/forums/viewthread/2516/

This inspired me to start my own List to get all those nagging things done.  Things that I have been telling myself I need to get done but somehow never do.  They range from small - Nail on that piece of molding to Shop for new car insurance, to Sell the house (which I can’t do until I get a lot of the other items on the list done.)

I encourage others to make a List.  You don’t know how good I felt to have that pesky piece of molding nailed in. And as I get more done on The List I know it is going to make me feel great.

For me, this is housework. I just don’t want to if I can’t finish. But if I just spent 10 minutes a day, I would have a clean house. At least a cleaner house. It’s really amazing how much you can do in 10 minutes.

So, what is your dreaded, or overwhelming task? Post it here, and lets try for 2 weeks to get just 10 minutes a day towards that task. Oh, the hard part? After 10 minutes, you have to stop. Just walk away. Nope, not even a little longer. Set the timer, and when it beeps, you are done. Period.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have 10 minutes of housework to do.

Bree

One I thought of, which I mentioned in my journal thread, is getting a nice photo taken. Haven’t done that yet. Now for me, a total photophobe, that’s a big step. Might not be for others.

Please help me add to this list, or share what you’re doing, especially if you’re in the same boat.

Thanks!

Ann

I’ve been struggling with this for a long time, but think I’m getting a better handle on it now. I’m a motion graphic designer and have been struggling with doing my own creative work at home. It’s very easy to do work at the office… projects come in every day and it’s my job to animate them and get them ready for the web and what not. Well, lately I’ve gotten tired of working on other designers great ideas and have wanted to get my own work out there. I’d just love to go from first tier designer to Art Director. It’s just hard because I don’t get paid to do my own work, so it seems like there’s no incentive.

But lately I’ve had a major creative surge and am coming up with all kinds of awesome ideas. Before I didn’t know where to put those ideas… most designers sketch them out but I’m more comfortable working in a digital space. Lately I’ve rediscovered photoshop and am getting great at doing my own quick visual designs and effects again. It’s awesome. I think of a scene or layout, break open the app and just go to town until I at least get a dummy version of it done. I work quickly these days too, so I have something up right away. If I don’t like the photos or graphics I’ve used, I just use a dummy image and go back to edit it later. It feels so great to get back to doing my own designs again. Since my real passion is for moving images I take my designs and animate them later. Ah feels great to be back in the game. My goal is to put an hour a day towards this until I’ve done at least one full scene a week. This is definitely something that will get me closer to my goal of becoming an Art Director someday. 

So post one thing that you’re going to try to do each month that’s green or more natural. Like in February I switched to a more natural shampoo/conditioner and in March I switched to organic makeup in cardboard containers. There’s lots of things you can do: plant a garden, use canvas grocery bags, a refillable water bottle, an aluminum or steel water bottle, ride your bike to class or work, make your own bread and more. So share your ideas too.

Happy Earth Day!

Cheers Guys an Galls
Kev