My Trees are Still Up

Sink ReflectionsHi, FlyLady!

Thank you so much for all of your encouragement! I found you when I was angry with myself over all my clutter and for some reason… surely a God-breeze… decided to clear out my emails late one night. I found an email from my cousin recommending your website. I shined my sink and read your book Sink Reflections. I flew fairly strong at first and am now fluttering with some struggling.

As you say we cannot organize clutter. And I have a lot of clutter. We have a small home with my DH, DD, DS, and me. I am a collector by nature and have trouble flinging for fear I’ll regret it or need it later. And yes this all gets me in a procrastinated, perfectionist RUT which effects my mood daily.

Here I sit with my DD and DS’s small Christmas trees still up in their rooms. I usually put up Valentines/Snowman decorations after Christmas (I love the cheeriness of decorating seasonally), and here it is Valentine’s Day and I’ve never put them out! I just said to my DH last night that by the time I put our children’s trees up they won’t be so special this coming Christmas. Then I saw your email this morning and decided I should write you which I’ve also procrastinated on doing.

Besides De-Cluttering with little success. My biggest question/problem is that I set my timer for 15 minutes to do a job/blessing but the job is never done in that time whatever it may be, so I have trouble because then I have a bunch of half complete “jobs”/projects around the house haunting me. HELP… any suggestions?!?

Thankful for your insights and encouragement!
Fluttering in Fountain Inn, SC
Connie

Dear Connie,

Fluttering is FLYing! Yes your perfectionism does put you in a rut. When you don’t think you have time to do it all; YOU DO NOTHING! That is procrastination. I don’t see that you have half finished jobs around your home; you have unstarted jobs that are haunting you.

In my book, Sink Reflections we talk about hitting a lick at a snake. This means doing something. You are not even getting started because you don’t think you can finish. The timer is all about not hyper-focusing and burning out but it also gets you started. Unless you allow your perfectionism to stop you before you start!

I like to play games. Sometimes my timer is the starters pistol. It gets me up to do just one thing. In fact the day I took down my Christmas tree; I set my timer every 15 minutes. By the end of the day, the ornaments were in their box, the tree bagged up, put in the garage. I did this by staying consistent. I did not hyper-focus! I would get up and spend about three minutes taking ornaments off the tree. Then I would sit down till the timer went off again. You can get so much accomplished when you make it fun. I have also used this method while watching my favorite movies on the Hallmark Channel. I would get up and do something during the commercials.

We allow our brains to make us think that a job is going to take longer than it really does. Set your timer and don’t think of it as a race to get it all done in 15 minutes. Pace yourself by doing 2 minutes or 5 minutes and resting for the rest of the 15 minutes. Then get up and go again.

Don’t let your perfectionism keep you from doing anything!

FlyLady

Today is the end of Anti-Procrastination Week. Do you have Christmas trees or decorations still adorning your home? Let’s set our timers and get them put away!

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