give myself a pep talk

I think I can still get through with tracking March expenses before dinner. I’m going to give it a try!

You have less than an hour to keep working on de-cluttering.

You’ve done great so far, even though you think you haven’t. You’ve sorted through some stuff on your desk. You’ve sorted through some stuff in the kitchen. Now you’ve got some piles lying here on your office floor. Almost all this stuff is going to stay here in your office. It needs a home, permanent or temporary, off the floor, in a file or in your desk or in your wallet or in the garbage can or whatever. Somewhere other than the floor.

Your challenge is to get it back up off the floor within the next 45 minutes. You can do it. Just do the best you can. Whatever isn’t done can go back into a new stack on top of your desk, but it will be sorted, and at least you now know what’s there.

All right. (Deep breath.) Ready, set, go!

...will make New Isabella feel depressed at the end of the day.

I’ve been playing for hours now. Time for a babystep or two tonight. Let me see if I can at least open my mail, put it away, and track today’s expenses. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

OK, Self. You’re getting a late start today. How about paying just one bill tonight, and opening up just one piece of the old mail? Just try for a babystep or two tonight. Babysteps are good.

It’s time to FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAYS.

It’s time to spend a few minutes looking at this scary pile of old mail here in the office.

You don’t have to spend all day doing it. How about at least 15 minutes?

You can do it. And that fear won’t go away until you do.

Right now is the time to find a place for your mail, and open it up, and track your expenses for yesterday and today.

Remember, even though you’re tired right now, you can do at least a little baby step or two. Don’t tell yourself that you’ll feel less tired by this evening. You won’t. That’s an excuse and a lie. You know that.

Remember, too, that if you just get a little bit done this afternoon, you’ll feel better about yourself this evening, and have at least a tiny sense of accomplishment, instead of guilt about more procrastination.

You can do just a little bit this afternoon. I know you can.

You need to sit down and settle down and focus on getting these notes finished this morning.

You don’t need to judge yourself for forgetting about them and for waiting until the last minute, or for trying to do too much yesterday and feeling tired this morning.

You don’t need to think about how many times in the past you’ve waited until the last minute, or speculate on the future, and day-dream about how you’ll do better next time, or predict that you’re hopeless, you can’t learn, you’ll never change.

None of that will help you. The only thing that will help is to pay attention to getting this month’s notes done this morning.

You can do this. I know you can.

...by receiving a cheer from JulieJordanScott, and then reading her lovely entry here, and then by following her “Off the edge” link to Flickr and to a fantastic quote from Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors. That quote was just what I needed to hear.

I was feeling stuck today, dissatisfied, discontented, even though I had written a gratitude entry. Life was feeling like a burden. But life is gift, too.

I had been waffling over what to do with myself today, procrastinating, feeling coerced. Ruminating about how I should do this, and that, and these other things as well, but I don’t really want to do any of it. But making my own choices about how to live my life today, this very afternoon, is a gift as well.

Thank-you, Julie. Time to log off right now and start living my own life, as well as I can.

I know you won’t be finished de-cluttering after 15 minutes. That’s OK. Just make a start. Just spend the next 15 minutes sorting through papers, throwing out what you can, filing the rest, and THEN you can relax, knowing that you’ve accomplished what you set out to accomplish earlier today.

If you still feel like working after 15 minutes, you can do that too. But you don’t have to. Just 15 minutes is all you need to do right now.

How about just committing to 15 minutes of de-cluttering on the kitchen counter right now? You don’t have to finish the job. Whatever progress you can make in 15 minutes is good.

Get started right now. It will be over soon, and I know that you’ll feel so much better for having taken some action.

See you back here in about 15 minutes.