How To Stop Doing Things Halfway

When my youngest son, James, was born, we decided to remove
the built-in desk in his room, to give us more options for
laying out the furniture.

To install the desk, the prior owners removed a piece of the
floorboard, so the desk would lie flush against the wall.
Upon removal, the patch of missing floorboard was exposed.

This was, of course, unacceptable to a mother with her third
baby on the way. So my faithful husband went to Home Depot
and bought the matching section of floorboard.

Upon returning home, we discovered that the ends didn't
match up, so John would need to cut the board. I bought him
a big new circular saw that would do the job nicely.

James is now four years old... and that stupid piece of
floorboard is still sitting in the garage... and when I
enter James' bedroom, I look with annoyance at that bare
patch. (Of course, when John reads this, he will have to
finish the project, haha!)

Do you have little "half-done" projects like this all over
YOUR house? Do you find that you can never actually FINISH
anything?

Here are some tips for eliminating the "half-done" projects
from your life and moving things through completion: Keep
track of your projects.

I keep a running list on a blank piece of paper the size of
my Franklin planner labeled "Honey Do's." I file it behind
the "H" in the A-Z tabs of my planner: a paper filing system
of sorts.

When John has some free time, he knows exactly where to look
to remind him of what needs to be done.

Always ask, "What's next?" I know I can't be the only one
with such "half-done" projects all over the house. Why is it
that things "stall" partway through completion?

At some point, you stopped asking the question, "what's
next?" What is the single next step you would have to take
to see forward progress on the task?

For John, it would be measuring the angle of the existing
floorboard in the bedroom. If a belt is laying in the
kitchen and needs to go upstairs in your room, you might
just look at it and think to yourself, "I don't want to run
all the way upstairs to put that belt away," so you leave it
there. Instead, take the single next step and put it on the
stairs.

Every time you go upstairs, grab something to take with you.
Always seek to resolve incompletions. Unpack from trips. Put
the dirty clothes in the hamper, refill toiletries while you
remember what's gone, and unpack your files.

I was in one woman's home office and noticed seven
conference bags stacked against the wall. Upon inquiry, I
discovered they were filled with her seminar notes,
brochures, and vendor samples.

She never spent time after the conference to review and
activate her plans, so now she's afraid to even look in
there, for fear of how much time it will take.

You may as well throw them all away. If you have a pile of
magazines you haven't looked through in months, set a timer
for five minutes, force yourself to scan the table of
contents for each one, and toss or review it before the
timer goes off.

Break it down. Don't bite off more than you can chew. If you
define your Saturday project as "clean out the garage,"
you're sure to fail. It's too much and takes too long.

You will run out of steam before you're finished, give up,
and leave it "half organized," which is almost more
frustrating than unorganized.

Breaking down a project into smaller chunks of time is often
called the salami technique, slicing up a big task into
digestible slices.

Schedule a one-hour "declutter assault" and define a
specific goal to achieve in that time: "Label the drawers,"
"Tidy up the floor," "Organize the gorilla rack on the left
wall," etc.

Get an egg timer, set it for one hour, and then go at it!
Dividing a task into small sections like this will allow you
to see progress toward your goals and feel inspired, rather
than discouraged.

Make it a productive day!