My Little Mantra When I Feel Overwhelmed with Daily Tasks & Chores
You ever have a free day and say to yourself that you're going to put in a couple of hours to clean up your room or do yard work before it gets colder. But when you look at the task you're dealing with you feel a little intimidated. You don't know where or how to start and after a five-minute attempt of starting, you tell yourself that you're going to postpone it to another day and you have better things to do.
I get this all the time whether it’s from cleaning my room or working on a thesis for school, it was the hardest things to take a large task and break it down to little pieces to make is easier to handle. Because of this it was always why my room was never presentable for the longest time. It was why my school papers were started two nights before they had to be turned in.
I'm still that kind of person where if I looked at my cluttered room and stare really hard at it for a good minute, close my eyes and open them again, every item will be stowed away properly, floor is vacuumed, shelves are dusted off.
But recently I've kind of been getting better at tackling these kinds of tasks and if you feel like you are on the same boat as me, here is something that has kind of helped me.
It's a little stupid but it's a little mantra I say that really has worked for me. I'll both chant it in my head and whisper it to myself.
one step at a time
That's what I say every time I have a long task to do.
What it does for me is when I chant this to myself, it makes me narrow down my field of vision and I have to do only *one* of the hundreds of steps I have to do in order to complete whatever task is at hand.
I don't feel intimidated anymore.
Pick up and fold one article of clothing.
Put the book on the table back onto the shelf.
Disinfect the coffee table with a Clorox wipe.
Discard the receipts on my computer table.
Change the filter in my air purifier.
When I do that, my room already feels 50% cleaner in 10 minutes. Compared to when I would just stare at my room for an hour and nothing changes.
Whether it's writing a blog, cleaning your room, building a tv stand from IKEA, don't think about the final result. It's like that saying when you are climbing a mountain, never look up, just look at the next step in front of you.
one step at a time
one step at a time
one step at a time
With this kind of mindful thinking of only thinking of the next step, that’s perhaps the best way to learn anything.
A new language.
Learn basic coding like HTML & CSS.
How to use Photoshop.
How to draw or paint.
Calculus or Quantum Physics.
Finnegans Wake.
Learn the basic building blocks and from that you are able to do more complex operations.
