Do This NOW!

Housekeeping chores are not something we generally include on our daily agenda or add to our compelling list of things to do, like: Clearing dishes out of the sink, emptying the dishwasher, doing the laundry, picking up and organizing the magazines, newspapers, games, socks, shoes, getting the trash in the trash bin/basket …  It’s as though there are so many more important things that need doing – like preparing a rocket for the next moon flight … or catching up on ESPN … or checking out You Tube, Facebook and email … or, well, almost ANYTHING else! 

Then there’s the related problem of NOW: NOW just happens to have suddenly burst on the scene unannounced/unheralded in the middle of everything else.  We didn’t really expect NOW to be here NOW, and we hadn’t really planned anything for NOW; we always plan things for LATER! 

I’m not about to suggest that we add all this piddling, generic, ever-present infrastructural stuff to our “DO List”.  Rather, I think we should purposely leave it OFF the “DO List” but turn up the background radar, become more attentive to things that need doing, and see how many things we can get done IN BETWEEN the big stuff.  By “turning up the radar” [an important component of Total Intentional Living], we would more readily/more promptly notice things that need to be done before they become calamitous (like tripping over stuff, not being able to find stuff, having no place to put stuff, etc.).  Their increased visibility on the radar would help make them compelling enough to get attention – and most of them will cost nothing: while you’re waiting for your coffee, clear the sink; while you’re walking through the family room, pick up a couple of stray items and put them where they belong.  Most of these things take only seconds, but what a difference they make in providing a much more manageable environment!

For things that may take a little longer, make the time and take the time.  Delay some gratification and practice immediate rectification.  It reinforces the disciplined life and yields tangible dividends you can actually LIVE with. 

If necessary, kick and SCREAM!  But DO IT.  And if I helps, go ahead and engage in some animated, self-supervisory, reality-check self-talk: “This is what we’re doing NOW.  We’ll do something else when it’s time to do something else.  But, for NOW, let’s clear the deck, move this stuff out of the way, stop quibbling and equivocating, and just Git ‘er Done!” 

“Life is tough!  But only because we’re not.  Become at least as tough as life, and life will become manageable.  Become tougher than life, and life will become easy.”  Quartermaster