Anti-Procrastination and Priorities
I want to preface this post by saying that I don't enjoy making myself look bad in front of my readers. Nobody wants others to know all their faults, and I certainly don't plan on making a habit of letting you in on every single dark secret I have. However, the purpose of this blog is to encourage ladies to be all that God wants them to be. Sometimes that means sharing personal examples in hopes that you will learn from my mistakes and be motivated not to repeat them.
When I started this Anti-Procrastination challenge, it was with the intention of getting extra things done without worrying about whether or not every single dish was washed, every speck of dust gone, and every article of clothing folded beforehand. There will always be more dishes to wash, dust to clean, and clothes to fold, and if I wait until all the “regular” stuff is done, I will never “get around to” other projects like organizing closets, washing the car, and doing craft projects.
However, there must be a proper balance between getting those Anti-Procrastination tasks done, and not allowing my house to be flat-out messy.
It honestly kind of bothers me when I see bloggers posting pictures of their messy houses that they neglected in favor of doing a DIY project. They somehow feel the need to “keep it real” and show how messy their house is because they were too busy doing a craft project to clean. I'm not talking about stuff the kids drug out while mommy was busy working or the mess made from actually working on the project or the dishes that were dirtied and left in the sink during the course of focusing on finishing the project. Those things are completely understandable and normal. I'm talking about out-and-out neglect to take care of first things first. Unmade beds and a pile of dirty dishes from the day before are, in my opinion, things that should be taken care of before anything else is undertaken that day. Most likely if you start a project with the house looking like that, it will still look like that at the end of the day when your husband comes home. That's not a refreshing sight to him when he comes home from a long day at work.
I'm ashamed to say that was the sight my husband had to come home to yesterday. It all started out kind of innocently. Since I've been so weak and tired all the time, I've been trying to get the most important things done first before I run out of energy. Yesterday was Wednesday, which meant that we had prayer meeting at night. I decided to get everyone's clothes ready, pack the diaper bag, and figure out dinner first thing in the morning so I could make sure it all got done in time.
Well, I've had these plain t-shirts in my closet forever that I've been wanting to make-over into something cute. They've been on my Anti-Procrastination list for the longest time, but I always have something else to do that's more important. I got started on my day pretty early, and I felt like I had plenty of time, so I decided to whip one of those up. I mean, why not? That was part of getting my church clothes ready, and I'd be knocking out an Anti-Procrastination task at the same time. And surely, it wouldn't take very long.
Well…ahem…naptime arrived, (yes, as in several hours later) and I was still in the middle of a battle of wills with my sewing machine. I had stopped briefly to throw some lunch in front of the kids, but other than that nothing had gotten done. Nobody's clothes were ready, dinner wasn't even thought of, and I had dishes on the counter that I had been planning to get to “after I got the church clothes ready”.
When my husband got home, I wanted to hide. I was so embarrassed about the house (okay really it was just dirty dishes, but that makes my house feel filthy, especially since that's the first thing you see when you walk in my back door) and about the fact that we were now going to have to rush to get ready for church on time. I tried for a frantic second to think of some way to get rid of all the mess and pretend I'd been doing what I should have been doing all day.
Instead I decided to be honest and fess up. I told him I was sorry I hadn't used my time wisely. I then thought through what needs to happen in order for that scenario not to play out again.
But, since this post is already running long, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read the two simple strategies I came up with to help myself stay on track but still be able to get those Anti-Procrastination tasks done too.
In the meantime, why don't you tell me how you keep your homemaking priorities in order? I'd love to hear about it!