The List of One Thing
I decided that my theme for this year is organization and planning. It’s January and miserable outside. This makes it a perfect time to look and determine the projects I want to complete. Like many people, I have some large projects and smaller ones. I want to clean out my closet. I really need to sort out my pantry. I have to organize my craft room, plus I have several files and file drawers that need cleaning out. Unfortunately, some of these projects will take a large block of time to complete. I can’t afford to push everything else aside in order to work on one until it’s finished. That started me thinking and trying to figure out a way to get them done.
I made a list of each of my projects. There are seven of them. I looked at all the things that were already scheduled on my calendar. Between writing, editing, and marketing deadlines, I really don’t have a large enough block of time available to start a project and work on until it’s finished. I came up with an idea. You’ve heard of the old saying, how do you eat an elephant? The answer, of course, is one bite at a time. That’s what I have to do with my projects. I need to break each one down into smaller bite-size pieces that will fit into my already busy schedule. I call my idea the list of one thing. No matter how busy my day is, I can always find five or 10 minutes a few times a day to take a break. It’s during these times I can work on my projects. The catch is I only do one thing. For example, my closet is full of clothes I don’t wear. Some are too small, some are too big, some are out of style, and some I simply don’t like anymore. I go into my closet and grab one item. If, for whatever reason, I will not wear it again, I take it off the hanger and put it into a grocery bag. If I want to keep it, I hang it back up. That’s all I do on the closet project for the day. When I have a few full bags of unwanted clothes, I will drop them off at a local charity. It will take me a while before my closet is actually cleaned out, but in the meantime, I’m making progress. I do this for each of the projects: one pantry item, one file folder, one item in the craft room. Eventually, all these projects will be complete. It’s a slow process, but it is a process and a lot better than doing nothing and complaining about it. Do you have any projects you can divide up into bite-size pieces?
