Monday, May 31, 2010

The Power of Less

I'm so behind with Adam and Bess lately. Actually, I feel behind in a great many things lately.  My job as chair of my daughter's pre-school is done this week and I have, perhaps, 5 things that need to get done in order to close it out and pass it on. Why are those 5 things taking me 5x longer than any other 5 tasks I've performed for this job all year? I don't know...I planted the urns for my front porch and some other planters but my tomatoes are still not in. I got off to a great garden start this year but now I need to finish up the planting. I'm painting my daughter's bathroom and only have a little tiny bit left. The first part took a week. The tiny bit has been waiting for me for 2. (It's the part behind the toilet. I hate that part. Next time I will paint that part first.) I think I have too many things going at once. 

I've been reading The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential, in Business and in Life by Leo Babuta, the Zen Habbits Blog Guy.   If you've never read anything by him or seen his blog check him out. I don't think there is a person I know who could not benefit from slowing down or paring down just a little.

Mr Babuta has a nice system for getting things done. He has one (only one!!) big goal and then 3 little projects at a time. One of your projects should relate to your goal. Then each day he makes a list of the 3 most important tasks to work on to achieve these things. And he does them. You don't even get to add a new project until ALL 3 are complete! I like this idea.  I'm game. The key is figuring out your big goal and your 3 little projects. I bet you can think of a bunch of goals and projects (I know I can) . That is the whole problem isn't it? Not enough time to focus on just one big thing.  They all kind of seem big to me. I want them all. Perhaps accomplishing them one at a time is a better strategy.

My garden is on the list for tomorrow!

2 comments:

Krista said...

The book sounds like something I could really use. It should be here Tuesday. (Amazon and the post office are very efficient here!) I can't wait to get started reading it!

Christine said...

You'll have to tell me how you like it.