Blink 182 lyrics.
I’ve recently discovered a hack to get things done. It’s blown my tiny forty plus year old ADHD world. It started with my son’s bedroom. It badly needed painting and I planned to do it over the summer, I got as far as purchasing the paint. Why would I procrastinate over a small weekend DIY job? I dislike home decorating.
Cut to ‘back to school’ September and the paint tins glared at me with begrudging taunts. Something had to change.
It began with one wall. I did it in a couple of hours. To achieve the painted wall I had to move everything near that wall out, get the paint stuff out, complete the job and then put everything back. I did it whilst the family were out at judo training. I looked at my first coat with pride and I decided which wall I’d do next and when. Slowly, Judo training session by Judo training session I worked my way around the room, I’m not yet finished but I’ve found an achievable momentum and over the next few weeks, a few hours here and there – the room will be decorated.
My two takeaways: obviously, I still don’t like painting walls but the job is getting done. Overall it’ll take me longer – what with the putting everything in and out of the space each time but it’s better than procrastination and nothing being achieved.
Taking the task in bite size pieces also means I’m making few errors, this does save me time. Had I of ever found a whole weekend to commit to the task, I would have painted with resentment and made mistakes that I’d then have to wait to dry, to then redo and solve. My brain works fast but that doesn’t always mean my skillset can keep up and if I’m hurrying a task (especially one I don’t want to do), mistakes are plentiful and in my experience often costly.
This week, I purchased a spot cleaning carpet cleaner. I’d procrastinated about purchasing one for a while. Previously I’ve hired professionals to do them, but that takes preparation time and logistics of both being home to supervise and being out the home to let them dry. I’ve also rented them before, but that means you have a span of time to move all the furniture, use the cleaner and get it back to the shop…this always leads to mistakes on my part and if I’m truly honest the machine we hired last time was dirtier than my carpets. I’m unsure much was achieved. I knew I needed my own one, this issue was suction. The expensive ones have the best suction and thus do a better job. Plus, I could clean it properly as I go…then I thought about my ‘small tasks’ solution to getting the bedroom done. I then purchased a small spot cleaning but high quality cleaner. Instead of doing whole floors or all the rooms at once, I’ve done sections…
Small, manageable tasks (usually with a time commitment for me) are something I’ve done at work forever (eg. Answer 5 emails and then change task), but only just introduced it to my domestic goddess routine and it made me think about how other people get things done. Perhaps you are great at getting things done in one area of your house and not as great in another. What is it about the environment where you’re more successful and how can you take aspects of that environment and apply it to tasks you struggle with. What I’ve described above is a manageable time frame with a manageable task. All the small things will hopefully become completed tasks, little actions that create momentum. How do you get things done?
