Monday, January 26, 2015

To Do's, Have To's & The Remainder

How is your "BALANCE Sheet" going this year?  Are there more to do's than done's?  How are you juggling all that you are responsible for?  Trust me when I say I know that there are more days than not that you just want to throw your hands up and go 'whatever'....but life moves on and so too do you.  

When I was a gradeschool child I remember my grandmother telling me that if you wipe down the tub after every bath you don't end up having to clean it as often.  At the time I wondered why she was telling me this other than she was wanting me to wipe the tub down after every bath, and as I stood there contemplating using a dirty wash cloth to wipe down the tub (yes, even at an early age hygine & proper cleaning practices really mattered) she demonstrated how the task should work.  Another tidbit was from a great aunt who would finatically clean her house before she would leave it to go anywhere, even if it was just up the street for a visit with a neighbor for a few minutes, because she was taught growing up that you never want to leave your house how you wouldn't want a stranger to find it because you never know what your future holds.  It is words of wisdom like this that have stuck with me over the years.  In part because they were stand out moments in my childhood either because of the circumstance in which they were delivered or because they seemed so odd they left an impression for me to ponder over the years.   But if you really think about these two examples in particular and apply them not only to your life (home, work) but the way you view your fitness and nutrition routines, it really helps to put it all in perspective and balance.  

Said very simply:  Don't get overwhelmed with the big picture of everything you are trying to accomplish....rather, break it down, make a plan, and consistently tackle your plan.  By doing what you can do moment by moment, day by day, amazingly it all gets done without any one thing undoing you.  Sure, you still have "those days" but overall, so much easier than having overwhelming task after overwhelming task on your plate (as it were) that you have to try and tackle as a whole.  Can be so defeating for sure!  What doesn't work is putting it off until the list, stack, task is so large there isn't even an obvious starting place.  This seriously applies to everything, fitness/health/nutrition included!

3 comments:

  1. So very true, and a great reminder. I've spent far too many days this January, overwhelmed by how impossible my todo list is, to the point of shutting down. But when the list has been prioritized, the impossible or impracticable are rescheduled to the weekend, and recognition granted for what I have achieved; well, my todo list is still there, but I'm much happier with life.

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