Procrastination

For the last three weeks I have been setting myself a task to only make my bed in the morning and shine my sink at night.

If you rolled your eyes in sarcasm at the mention of polishing up a sink and drainer - so did I, at the outset. However, the beauty of a shiny, empty sink in the morning (as opposed to the one full of cold water with congealing bits and a hundred greasy teacups) is very, very therapeutic - it's like a weight off my shoulders. And no, I don't take the kitchen sink with me when I travel. Equally, last thing at night, the sight of a made bed is somehow more crisp and special and it lifts my mood. I honestly never thought it would.

As I say, this has gone on for about three weeks and, please God, the two actions are now ingrained habits.

The reason for the bold type in the first sentence is that 'only' really was the keyword. I am not just a professional procrastinator, but also stubborn, obtuse, perverse, contrary - i.e. tell me I 'must' and I won't. This is so much a part of my character, that it works even if it's me telling myself that I really ought (should/must) do A, B or C.

Having told myself in no uncertain terms that the sum total of my housekeeping was to: 'only make the bed and shine the sink' (emphasis on only), I not only managed that, but many, many other tasks too. All the other things got done purely and simply because I wasn't supposed to be doing them. They were no longer on my mental list of 'must do' tasks, so they suddenly became easy and even fun.

So now I am ready to add to my list. All the hard floors have been mopped once a week this month, so I want to formalise that one while the going's good. 'Blow a silly 'five chore' list' thought I yesterday. I was on the ball and feeling big headed and set myself a fourteen point list - one small task per hour. They were easy. Most were done ahead of time. I even cleaned out a couple of kitchen units and reorganised stuff, even though it wasnt on the list. I overdid it.

I'm not tired, it's just that my brain forgot it's supposed to be stubborn. I made a rushed list for today and I have already looked at a couple of the jobs on there and decided I can't be bothered, so it's all gone to pot.

I havent even had a lazy day - I just buried myself in doing other things, things that weren't mentally notched up as essential, or 'must do'.

I did this - a complete cross referenced and alphabetised list of every post I have made in the last month. I did honestly think it was needed, I mean if you landed up here looking for my short stories or some other sort of post, where on earth would you start? Two clicks, now, and you've found just what you want (and so have I - I was going cross eyed, scrolling down the edit page looking to refer back to earlier posts.)

Maybe tomorrow I'll try reverse psychology on myself, make a list of tasks where not a single one is needed, just to see if I rush off and go do something time sensitive instead.

Knowing me, there is no way I can guesstimate when the rest of my posts (December to May) will be on the index page, but I'll let you know.