Every day, I knock one more thing off of the to-do list that has been growing over the past five years. Today it was "clean the BBQ", which hasn't been done in at least two years; I anticipate that there will be many hot dogs and steaks and grilled chicken breasts consumed during the last few weeks of summer to make up for the long period of time that the BBQ was too dirty to be useable.
Approaching the end of my to-do list is making me feel like Superwoman.
And it's making everything in life better. But how on Earth do I maintain this (or even something remotely close to it) when I go back to work in two weeks?
you hire a cleaner!
ReplyDeleteSadly, I already have a cleaner. It's all those extra tasks (going to the dry cleaner, cleaning the car, etc.) that I struggle with!
DeleteI try to minimize those tasks. I just refuse to buy things that require dry cleaning (it's really hard though, I know). I haven't cleaned my car in ... a year? I dunno, but it sure was dusty and I did a quick swipe before transporting a colleague today.
DeleteFor BBQ grill, I've not had one for awhile, but I remember doing just doing a quick scrape down with a brush and then turn the gas up high to burn off the residue and that's it.
I think that for me the trick to not getting overwhelmed is satisficing. I've given up my anal retentive perfectionist ways and it makes me happy. I sort of half-ass the things that can be half-assed. I cut my grass half as often as I should. I landscape the empty yard far more slowly than my neighbors would probably like. I wait for rain to wash my truck clean and then I don't have to. I only clean my floors when it bothers me to walk barefoot on them - then I clean them because the cleanliness brings me joy.
And on and on. Not sure when I started this, but I've been getting pretty good at it because at a job that I will always fail at - because there are no actually achievable expectations and they are unspoken and change constantly and usually contradictory, I will always "fail" ... but do I really? I still get a paycheck, I find pleasure in my days and time off, etc. etc. So what if I'm not always the smartest person, the most successful, most productive, etc.? I still show up. I apologize when I fuck up. That's good enough.
Now, what I do is far less important than what you do, but I think there is still some relevance to the philosophy of satisficing.