When I was a teenager, we didn’t watch a lot of TV. I do remember one show I was fond of that I would watch on YouTube. Perhaps you watched it too? The show was titled Extreme Makeover Home Edition. A huge team of volunteers and the show crew would work together to build a dream home for a family in one week. We (the viewers) would learn about the family and why they needed a new house. Then, we would watch as the family was given a trip to a tropical beach or Disney World where they would enjoy their week of leisure. Meanwhile, a massive team did almost the impossible. From demo to decorating the team would build a house in one week! When the family arrived back and was escorted in a limo to their new place, a huge bus would be parked in front of their new house. The family would countdown and then shout: “Driver, Move that bus!” The huge tour bus would pull away revealing the family’s dream home.
The phrase “Move that bus” popped into my head after a friend and I were talking on the phone. However, there was an important word change: “Move that mattress.” Let me explain. This friend (let’s call her Darci) shared she has had trouble lately fitting in her exercise routine. Darci is a kick-butt exerciser. She ran a 6-mile race while 35 weeks pregnant. Did I mention the course included rock scrambling and a 1100 ft elevation gain?! She kayaks, bikes, does video workouts, and runs while pushing a big jogging stroller. So, as you can see, she is a boss.
She told me a few reasons it had been harder to get to her workouts and then she told me: “There is currently a mattress on the floor of the room I work out in… it is in the way. I’m not sure where we are going to move it. It’s just enough of a hassle I haven’t done anything with it. I should just prop it against the wall.”
Darci and I chatted a little more, and after our phone call, my writer mind kicked into gear. I thought of my own “mattress” situation with exercising. I had purchased a DVD workout program that also came with online access to the same workouts. We don’t have a TV in our living room. So, when we do want to watch something, we haul in a television out of hiding, set it on the floor of the living room, pull out a DVD player, and then hook the player to the DVD and plug in the mess of cords. The hassle was strategic so we don’t get comfy with too many movie-watching-nights. But it was making a workout DVD routine a hassle. All I needed to do was make a call and ask what website I would go to access my workouts and what my login would be. That phone call was in the way of my exercise. And, it stood in the way for months while I told myself that I could just pull out the TV and DVD player (and then wouldn’t).
Then it happened. I made the call. It took a couple minutes.. and I “MOVED THAT MATTRESS.”
You see, sometimes the things you need to do; like exercise, isn’t what you have to do first.*
There are times you need to do a simple task or clean up a certain space in order to accomplish the work.
We can find our mattress by asking: “What is in the way of the task that needs completing?”
In my example above, I needed to make a quick phone call so I could access my workouts from my I-pad. I needed to remember to call, find the number, and pick up the phone. The procrastination felt ridiculous once I saw how little time the process took.
Confession time: I have another task like exercise that needs to happen several times a week. I need to sit my bottom in my desk chair and start working on a book that is begging me to write it. I am ready to do it, but I can’t find my desk. It is buried under all the little things and paper piles it has been housing. The task before writing is organizing my writing space. I need room to open notebooks and resources and set them next to my laptop. I need an open desk.
So, please say it with me: “Kassie, move that mattress!”
I will. Right now. I am on my way. Thanks for the positive boost.
As I go. Let me ask you, “What is your mattress standing in the way of progress towards a goal?”
Sometimes it is small: making a call.
Sometimes it’s bigger: cleaning up piles of paperwork.
Sometimes it feels really big: enrolling in a college course.
This is my encouragement to you. You’ve got this! Find the thing in the way, and move it.
-Kassie Joy
* I heard this idea years ago from another person, but I can’t remember who! It was either Dawn from The Minimal Mom or April Perry from Learn Do Become.
