Do you ever find yourself saying “I’ll put this here just for now“? Is there a better way to handle those little things?
There’s the paper: sorting the mail, the kids daycamp schedules and the random pieces of paper that come home in the handbag or briefcase: there’s so much paper around! Then there’s the tasks and projects that can be done well enough for the short term (it seems). It’s easy when I’m in a hurry to just set things down “just for now”. Of course, “now” is open for interpretation and many times “just for now” turns into more than a day. Paper accumulates, tasks go undone and things aren’t where they should be. Can you relate?
When I asked my son to clean up his legos the other day, he was putting some of his creations on a living room table. (I’ve asked him to take them and put them on the shelving we purchased to display his masterpieces.) As I watched him do this, I asked him about it. Can you guess what he said? “I’m putting it here just for now, Mom.” A few days later, the brick creations were still on the table. *sigh*
So, why do we not take the time to make a small decision or accomplish a task like putting away the mail? Here’s a few tips to curb the accumulation of the “just for nows” in your life and home office:
- Wait until you can properly take the time to do the task at hand. For example, if you take the time to get the mail, also take 1-2 minutes to sort it and give it a home. Better to leave it in the mailbox until there is time to properly deal with it later in the day.
- What decision am I delaying? Sometimes a “just for now” is putting off a decision you are dreading. Have some courage and make that small decision instead of procrastinating. It will free up some “head space” to do other things.
- How much time will it really take? Does it really take long to put something away? Try this: next time you feel the urge to do a “just for now”, time yourself and discover how long it actually takes to accomplish that task. If it’s 2 minutes or less it’s probably not worth putting off “just for now”.
Are you putting something off “just for now”?
(photo by Mike9Alive on flickr.com)