Are You Procrastinating Because of All-Or-Nothing Thinking?

Posted on August 29, 2008 by LJ

I recently caught myself in an episode of all-or-nothing thinking. I realized that although we live within 20 minutes of the ocean, we had not been to the beach at all this year. I wanted to plan a family day at the beach, but I couldn’t find a whole day in our schedules to devote to this outing.

Then it hit me: why not go some evening? We didn’t have to spend the whole day, we could spend a few hours after work or after dinner, and enjoy the ocean. There were some advantages to this plan too: free parking, no direct sun, and less people.

Not everything needs to be a big production

Here’s the point: not everything needs to be a big production. We can enjoy the same outing, but with constraints that will actually make it more fun and less hassle.

Breaking things down

So what else have I been putting off because it’s too much of an effort? Can these be broken down as well? Here’s a list of things that popped into my head:

• Scrapbooking. I have some major projects backlogged, and no large chunks of time to devote to scrapping. But by scanning a few items at a time, I can make significant headway.
• Weeding. I can’t spend an entire day weeding. But if every time I take the dog out I pull a few weeds, I will get a lot of weeds pulled this week.
• Cleaning the house. Flylady taught me to do 15 minutes a day. But since I left her nest, I haven’t been doing anything. And here’s the kicker: I don’t have to do all 15 minutes at the same time: I can do 3 5-minute sessions.
• Translating the website. I am involved in a project that I am upgrading technology and translating the pages from one language to another. I have been putting it off because it will take a good eight hours to migrate. But I don’t have to do it all at once. A few pages on every update night will get it done this month.
• Mending. There’s a backlog of mending, and I keep putting it off (and the pile keeps growing). I put it off because it is so much effort to get everything set up. But by setting it up once and working on it over a few days, I will get through the backlog.

Do you have a list of tasks that you will get to when you have enough [insert time, money, energy here]? Can you do a little bit today and see if it helps?

Photo by yoshimov

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Related posts:

1. Do You Make the Mistake Of Thinking Full Automation Is Simplicity?
2. Using Bonsai with Getting Things Done: Thinking
3. Freeing Myself from the To Do List
4. Using Bonsai with Getting Things Done: Thinking Filters
5. The Top 10 Things I Have Learned From Flylady #3: I Really Can Do Anything for 15 Minutes

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