New Year's Revolutions--Goodbye Procrastination

Rob and I have been talking about the concept of New Year's Revolutions rather than Resolutions. I love thinking of ringing in the new year by making the decision to revolutionize something rather than just "resolving" that something needs to be done. In the past couple of days I have realized that for me, one of the biggest revolutions I can make is changing the way I think about things. My number one obstacle to getting "organized" in the past has been plain and simple procrastination. I have so many things on my plate that I try to balance. Between the gardens, my jobs, being a Mom, being a Wife, volunteering, and keeping the house in order, it seems I am always putting something off. I purchased a book on organizing last year and it emphasized that when we procrastinate, we never do ourselves any favors. We put an extra burden on our shoulders and have that stress eating away at us until we finally complete the task. This is so true!

So my first Revolution of the year, is giving myself the gift of doing, rather than procrastinating. Now an important part of this for me is that I tend to put things off because I "don't have time" to do things. I look at the kitchen counter after cooking a meal, and think "I don't have 30 minutes to clean this before I get the kids in bed, I'll do it in the morning." Or "I don't have time to take pictures of the kids artwork right now, I'll just add it to the pile." The truth is that if I break down a task into increments that I DO have time for--i.e. rinsing all the dishes and getting the counter wiped down, or taking just one picture instead of trying to do 20 later on, I can fit in a lot more accomplishments. By doing so, I take a lot off my plate, little by little. This will reduce my stress along with helping me actually achieve more of my goals!

I also tend to put things off because I need to take time to just relax and take care of myself--which is true! But by taking breaks and putting reasonable limits on them, I can take time for me without feeling like I wasted time. Instead of getting sucked into the computer for an hour, I can sit down and give myself 10 minutes before tackling something else. I personally have found this Revolution in thought to be very liberating. I hope that whatever Revolutions you need to make your life more fulfilling come to you, and that 2010 is a fabulous year for you and yours.