Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Procrastination

Some of you out there in blog land may wonder why I have been missing-in-action lately. I wish I had some great excuse for my being absent from blogging for almost a week, but I don't. I have not been sick or on some wonderful exotic vacation. I have not even been really busy doing a lot of productive things. To tell the truth (and keep it real), I have just been procrastinating. There...now you know my dirty little secret. I am a terrible procrastinator!! I hate to admit it. I am even ashamed of it, however, it is the real me.

Last week, I went to take a picture for my blog and my camera card was full. Although I have been to the store a couple of times, I kept putting off buying a new card because I thought I had one already. The problem with that was that I could not, for the life of me, find the one that I thought I had. Has that ever happened to you? I searched for several days and could not find it. This little event actually brought another larger problem to the surface...my procrastination. Procrastination can be defined as the counterproductive deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Yep, that's me!

If you have been following my blog for any length of time you may remember some of my previous posts that show a house that is fairly neat.

For example...the post about my sunroom,


...or my bedroom.


And although my house is presentable most of the time, I have a couple of rooms that I would rather that no one see. One of those rooms is my storage room.


Several years ago when my husband built an addition on our home, he added a beautiful storage room. It was the perfect room. I loved it because he gave it plenty of shelves and it was big enough to house a Christmas tree fully decorated! It was the room of my dreams.


However, due to my procrastination, it has become a junk hole. It has even overflowed into the office that is adjacent to it.


I am so ashamed to show you this, but I do feel that it is necessary in order to be held accountable to someone for what I am about to do. I am going to put an end to this terrible procrastination and do something about this area of my house. I have been challenged by Maggie at The White Farmhouse to clean up my storage area. So here it goes...I am going to try the Flylady's technique of devoting a set time to work on it each day. I will set the timer for thirty minutes and work nonstop for that amount of time every day. I don't know how many days it will take, but I'll keep you posted! Hold me accountable! Don't let me give up!

"I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Even overcome procrastination!!

13 comments:

tina said...

I can honestly say if my storage room (garage and knee walls in my case) looked half that good I'd be happy! At least you can see everything so the battle is half won. I procrastinate all the time. it started when I retired from the Army and felt I had plenty of time. Little did I know that time passes quickly and the Army actually gave me more time because I used my time more wisely when I worked. Sigh. It is hard to get back into that groove but maybe a little time each day will help you accomplish your goal to straighten your room Every long journey begins with a stem-my mantra in all I do...Now if I could just reduce those steps:)

www.thewhitefarmhouse2.blogspot.com said...

Good for you Carla! I think we all procrastinate. I know I do. I have been meaning to clean up my basement for a few years now. It is best to start slow. It didn't get mess in one day so why clean it in one day! I like the timer idea. Link this post to the one on my blog and it should work.

Thanks again for playing along!

myletterstoemily said...

oh no, not the dreaded storage room! i highly
respect and admire your courage.

your comment about camping was hilarious. i
love that you and your daughter think alike!
my girls and i frequently meet at the stairs
dressed similarly.

then the challenge is "who has to change
this time!"

*Ulrike* said...

That sort of looks like my craft room! It has its good days and bad days!!! Every now and then we need a few days off even though we mean well. I seem to do it more in the summer as there are 101 other things going on. So go ahead and enjoy those days, we'll still be here, after all we've all been through those very same days!!! I'm going to have to go to the White Farmhouse and check that out, maybe I can get a few inside things done too!!
Take Care,
Ulrike

Roses and Lilacs said...

Yes, get busy (sound of whip cracking;) Meanwhile, I'll sit here and think about getting my storage areas neatened up. Don't plan to actually do it, just going to think about it.
Marnie

Joan Elizabeth said...

Go for it. I have a tidy house so long as you don't open any of the cupboards. I try do an annual spring clean but it is closer to every two years or perhaps three years or ....

From the Kitchen said...

I can really relate to your dilemma! We don't have a storage room but our guest room is the "open the door and toss it in" place. When guests are expected, I become a whirling dervish cleaning it up. I really want it to always be ready for that unexpected guest--well, sort of unexpected. So far, I get overwhelmed and can't do much. I've made a good start and am now off to continue.

Best,
Bonnie

Glenda said...

I don't have an indoor storage room, so I "send" things to my husband's outdoor storage building - and it is a disaster right now! But it's too hot to clean it now with temps 100+ - and it has no AC.
Inside, my problem areas are the closets; so much could just be thrown away, but I have a hard time getting rid of things! You are not alone in procrastinating!!

Hope you have a good weekend!

pve design said...

I think procrastination is part of God's way of reminding us that we are human and not perfect. I know this will be a test of faith and strength to restore order to your storage room as well as to those around you who will love you regardless.
Good luck with your special project. My prayers are with you!
pve

Rebecca said...

No, you're NOT alone! But don't let that fact serve to get you "off the hook"! (Believe me, I KNOW how easy it is to console myself with an excuse like this!) When God has planted a desire to "tidy up" in us, we will be restless and a little less joyful than He intends for us to be.

Your plan sounds sane; You (and I) CAN do all things through Christ who gives us strength!

Vicki@MorePowerfulBeyondMeasure said...

I love that FlyLady! I also would love to have your room...must be heaven to get to leave your Christmas tree up decorated. Guess we all have a lot of work to get to...arggghh! Vicki

Betty819 said...

Glad you can't see my computer desk area and my bedroom night stand. I swear I have ADD that was never diagnosed when I was young(they never heard of that word back then)because I get sidetracked so easily. At lunch, i started frying bacon to make a BLT, and I came down the hallway to do something else, then sit down to the computer and forgot about bacon. Good thing hubby was in room next to kitchen. But what does he do but get up, look at the frying pan of bacon cooking and calls me instead of taking it off the burner completely. Duh! Now that's scary! I thought about doing the 30 min. timer test to see how much I really could accomplish in that time, but knowing me I'd get sidetracked and getting nothing done. I've really become aware of the ADD similarity the past 5 or 6 yrs.

Veronica said...

Don't worry! I think everyone procrastinates. And my office/storage room is not even half of that C: