Are you the primary dish washer in your home? This is one of my tasks I’m pretty committed to managing. However, there are nights that I go to bed with dishes in the sink. I despise when I wake up and enter the kitchen to be greeted with a mess. I am learning a trick to help on the nights I am so tired I talk myself out of washing supper dishes. The trick: do it halfway. Instead of cleaning the whole kitchen, I will put the plates and silverware in the dishwasher and start it running. Then I’ll soak the pans and wipe the table. The next morning the task is much less daunting.
What I will say next is going to drive perfectionist and “there-is-only-one-right-way” people a bit batty. Sometimes you just need to do something halfway. My reasoning is this: a halfway start is better than not doing it at all. Of course, this doesn’t apply to everything. You can’t deliver a baby half way and decide you need a break. And you can’t eat only half a bag of M & M’s (because who can stop at half?!). There are many things you can do halfway… or just good enough.
The freeing power of this way of thinking is that it can combat inertia from either perfectionism or procrastination and get you moving in a desired direction. Maybe you don’t have time to sit down and start your report… but, do you have ten minutes to start researching or draft an outline? What can you do halfway? Maybe your vehicle is filthy and needs a thorough three-hour cleaning. What is good enough? Perhaps you can empty out the items and trash collected in there, wipe the dash, and shake out a few floor mats. Are you getting the idea?
Tonight, I felt much too pregnant and tired to write a blog post, but I decided I would take my own advice. I can start a sloppy first draft tonight and tomorrow polish it up. I will be thankful to have words to work with in the morning.
I realize this philosophy doesn’t work for all tasks and projects. But it sure helps in many areas of life. Don’t let the fear of not completing something perfectly keep you from starting. If you have started, then you can soon come back and finish.
Sometimes going halfway can give you the pause you need to reevaluate your task. You might go to sleep on it and have a brilliant idea as your head settles on the pillow. Or maybe closing the laptop to reread your e-mail later will help you see it could be reworked to be more convincing. Or maybe cleaning your kitchen half way, will cause your partner to help you finish. 🙂
This won’t work if you leave all your projects partly finished. You do need to go back and complete the tasks. And if you have begun a project and have gained motivation, just tackle it to the finish right then!
What can you do just-good-enough or halfway today? Start that task you have been putting off. You’ve got this!
-Kassie Joy
