You know, I think what gets us into trouble sometimes is that some jobs have multiple steps - a cleaning cycle, if you will.

You don't just get to dump the clothes into the washer and be done with it. You have to wash them, dry them, fold them, and then put them away and if you skip any step in that cycle, you will end up with a wet, smelly, wrinkled mess.

Same thing with dishes - you can't just put them in the dishwasher, you have to put soap in, start it, unload it and then start a new cycle.

I think it would help us if we could think of our tasks in terms of the whole cycle instead of just one part of it. When you do laundry, make a commitment to complete the whole cycle. Make a plan, set a timer, delegate part of the cycle, basically do whatever needs to happen to make sure that the chore isn't going to get abandoned mid-cycle.

I know that we all have a lot going on and some of us (I especially mean me!) have some ADD tendencies. But that doesn't excuse you from doing what needs to be done, it just means that you have to work harder at it and that you need to use some extra strategies to make it work for you.

A lot of us like checklists. I know I do and I get a ton more done when I take the time to use them.

But the question is what do you put on your to-do list? Do you just put "Do laundry" and hope for the best?

Wouldn't it be better to put each step of the cycle as a separate but related task? That way you'll be reminded to complete ALL the steps and besides, then you get three or four check marks instead of just one! And we all know that more check marks are better than less!

Give it a try and then leave me some comments and tell me how it worked for you.

Be sure and come back next Monday and Friday for the next installment in my Clutterbugs series. To see the rest of the series, just click the Clutterbugs tag at the bottom of this post and it will bring up a list of them.



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