Three Words that changed everything

A while ago, I was watching a program where a professional organizer was the expert guest.  The other guests, a young couple, were overwhelmed by the amount of laundry, toys, dishes, and paper their house had.  The camera panned out around the house, and it was evident that there was very little organization in the house.  The woman explained that she was so busy taking care of the kids that she didn't have time to do anything else.  The husband said it was hard to live in a house with so much chaos.

Then the professional organizer began giving advice.  Only one thing that he said stuck with me.  It was: "Finish the cycle".  In other words, if you fold the laundry, finish the cycle and put it away while you are going.  If you are clearing the table, finish the cycle and put them into the dishwasher. 
Those three words struck a chord in me.  They are the key to completing any job. 

Since that time, I have found those words echoing in my head when I feel like leaving the job to come back to it another day.  And I have (I'm happy to report) had some good successes in seeing a job through to the end, since watching that show.  The weeds have been dumped in the compost, rather than waiting until they are rain-soaked, the laundry has been washed, dried and put away, the window-washing materials have been brought out, used,and stored. 

Still, it takes a concentrated effort.  And I have a long way to go, to being as consistent as I need to be.  But those three words have been a catlyst for a change in my thinking.

  "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

-- Sir Edmund Hillary



Comments

clwl said…
Interesting. Years ago, a nursing colleague watched me rushing from one task to another; she wisely said "Stay with this one til you finish it; then move on to the next one". Your posting on Finishing the Cycle is timely because, in the past couple of days, I've been "hearing" her saying these words (all these years later!!!) as I go about my ADL's. I suspect that it's because it's easy to start a task; but then I move onto the next thing, as if to comfort myself that I'm accomplishing something, while in reality, I may only be lighting lots of little fires without actually bringing them to fruition and/or completion. There is a certain BUZZ that you get from starting something; but the middle part, the PLODDING to the end part, is much tougher. And the BUZZ that you get in finishing something might only be a SIGH of relief that you GOT THERE....Ahhhh!

Thanks for the 3 little words. It will be an impetus today when there are so many unrelated tasks to attend to. I should tally the cycles I finish!! And report back ;-)

JMT
clwl
August 8, 2011 at 7:25 AM
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