This post has been on my mind for a few months now.
It all started with a book…
A “21 Days To A More Disciplined Life” by Crystal Paine kind of book.
Wherein I learned much about myself…good and bad. I learned that in some areas I am more disciplined that I thought I was. And in some areas I am less disciplined than I thought I was.
It’s those “less” areas that got me…and I’ve made some radical changes.
Crystal advocates making lists of “major projects” (to be broken down into practical, bite size, ‘accomplishable’ bits). She also advocates making a list of “tiny projects” that can completed fairly simply and quickly. There are all kinds of things that end up on these lists, and even in the very making of them much is to be learned.
The first thing on my list of “major projects” was my mending basket.
Ah, that little basket that is always heaping…that little basket that is so big. It sits…while the children are born and grow up. It sits…through 4 moves and 4 new hiding places in the 4 new houses. It sits…through long sessions of sewing something else. It gradually becomes more full, yet it remains untouched.
I decided that my basket had been neglected long enough. Time to tackle this major project, one garment at a time.
Was I ever shocked at the secrets that basket held.
What was in my mending basket? Four skirts to be taken in- too big. One pair of pants to be hemmed- too long. A little dress with a rip in the side. A few shirts to be re-purposed into skirts for Tiny Daughter.
One day while Small Son worked in his video school, I was downstairs so as to be available for his inevitable questions about seatwork.
My eye spied my sewing desk and I decided to take a little bite out of my mending basket. Just one skirt- that will be great progress! I assured myself.
I finished said skirt in less than five minutes. On to second skirt. Also finished in less than five minutes. Marching on, I tackled third skirt. Wow, also finished in less than five minutes. That one probably only took 2 minutes! I might as well do fourth skirt…
And it caught my eye in a different way. Slowly a reality was settling in my mind…
I bought this skirt right before we moved to Canada…yeah, that day when Cindy and I went to the mall in Shelby, N.C.
I realized that I had never worn it. Ever.
When I bought it, it was a tad too small. Then enter pregnancy, wherein I lost so much weight that my whole body changed and hardly anything fit me anymore. Much less said skirt, which now fell off of my hips when I put it on.
A chilling fact hit home.
Oh. my. goodness. This skirt has been in the mending basket for SEVEN YEARS.
SEVEN YEARS, people!
I don’t think I can even put into words the full extent of the lesson I learned as I sat in front of my sewing machine that day…Small Son is chanting “tr in train, tr..tr..tr” “pl in plane, pl..pl..pl” etc. Mom is five feet away having an epiphany.
I left that skirt in the basket for that long, thinking it would take a long time to fix. And here I am, 15 minutes later, with an empty basket and four mended items to add to my wardrobe!
There is a great degree of deception in procrastination! We are led to believe that we haven’t been given enough time.
We are led to think that projects will take longer than they really do, and that some other day will bring more time than we have at this moment. Meanwhile, we seem to have no comprehension of how much time is really slipping by.
I know one thing- my mending basket will never be full for seven years again! And I am now much more aware of what I’m doing when I put a task aside for a later time. I’ve learned a simple, time-saving lesson.
What’s the biggest procrastination you’ve ever done? What steps did you take to overcome it? Was it as hard as you thought it would be?
You have inspired me! I have a mending basket that is starting to pile up, and an ironing basket that is overflowing! I think I know what I’ll be working on today! 🙂 Thank you so much for this post!
Here’s hoping that your ironing basket empties as quickly as my mending basket did! 🙂
I’m reading a different 21 days book (the do what you can plan by Holley Gerth) and it starts with the same premise. Take a huge goal, make it as small as you can, then divide that in half…and do THAT. My huge goal is a cleaner more organized house…smaller, okay, just a cleaner kitchen…okay, if I could just keep the floors clean. I HATE CLEANING FLOORS! Especially with a toddler. So much crusted food and crumbs and spilled yogurt and I’m the world’s messiest cook, seriously. So I put it off…for WEEKS! I’m not joking. I just hate it that much. And then I feel so guilty (and grossed out) when I finally get around to doing it.
So my minute goal was the floors. And it just so happened that, for some reason (probably getting distracted by FB or who knows what!), I had started the floors (before reading the chapter), but had only gotten HALF of the floor done.
I thought it funny…when she said to take your minute goal and divide it by half.
So my new goal/resolution/whatever is to do HALF of the kitchen floor every day. I know…lame…but it’s working. Speaking of which…I’d better go do it. My half which is now covered with leftover “grill cheese sammich” is calling me!
Now Aprille, did you only read HALF of my post?! LOL I see more jokes coming in the future. 🙂 I’ve seen Holly’s book floating around cyberspace…need to read that one next maybe! It feels so good to get things accomplished, even though they are small.
No I actually read the WHOLE THING! (I’m an over-achiever when it comes to reading blogs!) ROFL!!!!!
don’t you love it when you procrastinate on something and it takes 5 minutes to do? 🙂 I did something the other day that had sat for a very long time (can’t remember what it was now??) but I remember thinking – this is ridiculous! it had been sitting there for a year and took me less than 10 minutes 🙂
Seems like it’s always a fight to NOT put something off. But at least I’m more aware of what I’m doing now!
Oh, dear Leah! 2012 – my year of Anti-Procrastination – revealed so much about myself! I too, finally “got around to” digging in to my mending pile, and I too was shocked to see how quickly I got it all done. But can I tell you a secret? If you don’t want these things to happen again, you have to stay super vigilant for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. (Sorry, wasn’t shouting, there’s just no other way to emphasize in a comment.) I’ll be honest and tell you that my mending pile is overflowing again. I obviously haven’t perfected the art of anti-procrastination after just one year. Yes, this anti-procrastination thing is incredibly hard, and it’s a lifelong fight. Stay at it girl!
Yes, it really is something you can never let up on…and as life dynamics change, it seems we are constantly re-adjusting in order to stay disciplined. BUT the results are worth it. Maybe we need a mending basket accountability club, eh? 🙂
Ahh…the mending basket…that should be a forbidden word in my house. 🙂 I normally am not too bad about mending, but certain projects – like the bedspread for my brother I started a year ago – sit untouched. Time to get on that! Thanks for this post….glad to hear that this book touched your life as it did mine!
It’s a great book- I’m almost finished reading it. The main thing that it’s done is make me more aware of procrastination and time wasting. It’s a work in progress for sure! Winter is a good time to mend/sew a bedspread- it can keep you warm while you work! 🙂
Well I read this the day you wrote it, Leah. I was all inspired and was on my way to my very overflowing mending pile …. then I realised it was almost lunch time. SIGH. Stopped again, and off I went to make lunch for hungry kiddos. Then someone needed my help with Math. Then another one needed me to “just take a look at this photo I did of the cats”. Then I stopped to check my online boards and FB. Then supper came and clean up. Before I knew it another day had past … then three days … then a week and so on. As you can see I definitely get the concept of putting off what I think are going to be major time suckers in my life, for that rainy day. The rainy day just isn’t coming. I must get that mending pile sorted though. It’s going to be my January goal. Dear Daughter really needs her camisoles all shortened …. I need to get this done for her.
Love reading your blogs, thoughts and experiences in really just living an everyday life and trying to do so ‘as unto the Lord’.
Next time it rains, better get on that mending pile. 😉 A snowy day counts too. 🙂