Real Life Solutions

Sometimes we have projects or tasks ahead of us that we perceive to be overwhelming. Maybe we know it’s going to take a zillion hours to complete, and we fear once we do that, nothing else is going to get accomplished. Perhaps we don’t know where to even begin? Maybe it’s something that we really don’t like doing, but we know it has to get done regardless.

These are the types of projects people end up procrastinating on, and often get stressed that these projects are constantly hanging over their heads.

Anytime I have a project or task ahead of me, no matter how big or vague it is, I start by breaking it down into tiny baby steps.

For instance, if I had to organize a garage, I would begin by visualizing what I’d like the garage to look like. Then, I’d write down some of my ideas. Then, I’d get a set of index cards and start coming up with ‘zones’ (garden zone, sporting equipment zone, car care zone, kids toy zone, etc.

Then I would stick each card to where I would like those zones to be–even if I decide to change those zones later, that’s OK. It’s just a preliminary plan. Then, I’d be sure to have some trash bags or boxes on hand.

Then I’d start clearing out one corner–the sporting goods corner for example. Once that’s done, I would move all sporting goods to that corner. I’d do this for all other zones, and then begin thinking about proper storage for these areas.

You get the point. Each sentence I mentioned above is one tiny step of the process. You could go about your organizing efforts, one sentence at a time each day.

Break your big projects down to the lowest point and then just focus on that one tiny point each day. Once that task is done, you can move onto another, or take a break and do more the next day.

Using this system, before you know it, all of your projects will begin getting started…and completed.