It’s been bugging you for months now. You got everything done except for that last piece.
Maybe it’s writing the thank you.
Maybe it’s putting the project in the mail.
Maybe it’s putting the knobs on the door.
Maybe it’s throwing the scraps away.
Maybe it’s deciding that it isn’t worth finishing.
Maybe it’s the last coat of paint (or varnish).
Maybe it’s returning the book.
Maybe it’s admitting that she was right and restoring the relationship.
Maybe it’s changing the lightbulb.
Maybe it’s hanging the picture.
Maybe it’s walking back in.
You know what it is. It’s been bugging you for months.
Here’s what’s funny: it will take 15 minutes at the most to finish at least one project in 2008.
So in the almost three days that are left in 2008, spend fifteen minutes to finish that one thing. On Thursday, when you look back at the year, you’ll be able to say that for all the chaos, all the change, all the ups and downs and annoyances and celebrations, at least you got ________done.
And that can be a very good feeling.
So write it down. Now. And then go do it.
And then tell us about it.
(Me? the knobs. Time to put the knobs on the closet doors in the living room and finish a three year long project. You can read about it here.)
Thanks for stopping by. I used to write here. But I don't anymore. 
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You know, you’re right. Thank you. This was just the push I needed. No more putting it off… I’m doing it now.
My husband and I spent most of December–as it snowed and iced and froze and thawed and then refroze outside–fretting about how we hadn’t properly stored our patio and porch furniture, our hose and clay pots and the chiminea. It’s so easy to just kick yourself around, and feel like a failure, thinking about all of the damage that’s already been done. “It’s too late now,” we tell ourselves. But it isn’t, of course. We took about a half hour yesterday, in the dry sunshine, and took care of everything. It feels amazing.
Excellent blog! If I remember correctly, I found you through Chris Brogan.
I heard a podcast about this subject recently. The radio personality (she was actually a life coach) called it “what won’t you put up with anymore?” She asked us each to make a list of 10 (or fewer) things that we wouldn’t put up with anymore — things that were really irritating to us in our life and that we shouldn’t allow b/c they were harming us, or they were just things we should do. They could be simple or large!
My husband chose several things, including:
I will no longer put up with a messy den/desk. I will clean it up.
Next he thought of the steps he would take to accomplish the task of making things clean. It was up to him to clean up the room and the desk.
I asked him later how it felt. “Empowering,” he answered. I loved the straight forward approach of this life coach. I wish I could remember her name right now. She is very practical, and just has people “go do something” about their problems. Sounds like you have the same approach!
I listed some things also that I want changed, that I won’t put up with. One is I will no longer put up with sloppy blogging. I am making a blogging schedule as well as doing some other planning for my online activities. I am going to be a lot more careful how much time I spend on line, and how I arrange that time. Sometimes I will be on Twitter, begin to follow a post, than a whole blog, begin commenting, and hours have gone by.
In 2009, I’m sticking to a schedule. I’ll schedule a daily post, and then perhaps an hour or two for commenting before (after?) posting, and time on Twitter.
I’m also going to schedule a lot of time for doing work for fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise money for services for those with blood and bone marrow cancers, and to find a cure for said cancers. This year I am hoping to raise several hundred or thousand. I am going to ask my whole town and the surrounding areas to give, as well as my online friends. Why not give big to those who die of dreadful cancers? My husband has had two cancers recently and a bone marrow transplant. I’m no longer putting up with people dying from bone marrow cancers (such as MDS) and blood cancers (such as Leukemia and NHL), and me not doing anything to try to fight for a cure. This year I plan on raising a lot more money than last year, and I plan on having a schedule to focus how to raise the money, including posting a daily blog post in a blog I will create especially for the fundraising. Some of the blog will be dedicated to friends I had who died from these dreadful diseases. It will be real and personal I will not let their memory die, as their life was not in vein.
I guess one of my points here is that I won’t be able to finish the last thing that needs to be done on a project in 2008. Because I’ve completed most things that needed to be done. Instead I am making goals and they won’t be able to be completed until the end of 2009, as they are big goals.
Thanks for giving me the courage to do something, and not just leave it. You are very practical, Sir!
Oh!!! I got it! My husband needs a button sewn on a pair of his pagamas! His favorite pair. I’ll do that. He’ll apprreciate it.
Thanks for your “just do it” practical attitude. Works for me!
Oh, I added you on Twitter, and I’m going to subscribe to Levite Chronicles. 🙂
Krissy 🙂
visit my main blog: Sometimes I Think
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy
Wesley, well, glad I could help!
Kristin – exactly right. Just deciding, short time, major impact.
Congratulations!
Krissy – i love the looking to the end of the year and then moving back from
there. However, the buttons? That’s a big deal too.
Nice to meet you, by the way. Yes, it’s Mr. Brogan.
It takes so much energy not to do something…every time you walk past the undone, it is draining. My son’s cello teacher, tells his students…the hardest part is starting. Ok, I am sending your post to my husband!! And who knows, if I take a very hard look…I might find some unfinished 2008 business in my own life—Did I leave those library books in my car??
Finishing painting my daughter’s room. I started it, and got all but the trim near the ceiling and floors done, before my inlaws came to visit (for 11 weeks!)
I need to finish it. I will finish it.
And Katybeth is right–at this point, it’s draining more energy to not do it than it would take to do it. 🙂
“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal nagging on of an uncompleted task” William James….headboard rail fixed,let go of a resentment,life is good!
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