21 Days to a More Disciplined Life: Day 19 (Get It Done Early)

Oh man, it seems like the last portion of this book was written just for me! Look at today's chapter title. If you know me reasonably well at all, then you'll know that getting things done early (or even on time sometimes) is definitely not a strong point for me. Can't wait to dive into this one! But first, let's look at yesterday's exercise. 

Yesterday we were told to ask ourselves if we're doing the best that we can with the energy, gifts, talents, and resources that each of us have for whatever season of life that we are in. Honestly, I'm not. I'm in a good season of life right now (newlywed-ish and childless) where I have a good amount of free time, and yet, I'm not spending that time, energy, or talent on working on my goals and dreams. Despite reading this book and writing about it daily, I'm still practicing a lot of the bad habits that inspired me to take on this challenge in the first place. I'm doing better, and as she advised us to do in a prior chapter, I'm celebrating the baby steps that I'm taking, and striving to do a little better each day.

Okay, now onto the chapter that probably speaks to me more than any other chapter has so far! In this chapter, Paine talks about an article that she read that talked about how getting things done early is the key to success (reading the article is one of today's exercises, so I'll link to it there). "Get it done now" is a Flylady concept too, plus, it's something that my mom and husband both try to impress upon me. I'm constantly amazed at how much faster my husband gets chores finished because he'll just get started whereas I'll hem and haw and procrastinate until I've wasted half the day thinking about how much I don't want to do something! I guess this goes hand in hand with the "do the hardest things first" chapter also! 

Paine talks about how she's made a lot of excuses for her tardiness in her life, but almost always it boils down to procrastination, improper prioritization, and a lack of planning ahead. For example, she said that instead of planning to leave 30 minutes before she needed to be out the door, she would wait until 30 minutes before she needed to leave to take her shower, get everyone dressed, gather up whatever they need to take with them, and get everyone out the door. I can definitely relate (Mom and Will, if either of you are reading this, stop laughing at me...)! I hardly ever plan ahead or account for obstacles, so I'm constantly frantic and frenzied. However, Paine says that even though knowing the problem is good, it doesn't fix anything; we actually have to make changes if we want to experience any benefits. This seems like common sense, but to me, it's really helpful! 

Today's exercise is to read the article Paine talked about. It's called The Secret of Success for a Work-At-Home Mom, but Paine promises that it will encourage people who don't fall into this category. 

(Side note, she's right; I just read it, and it does have good, practical tips in it. It's by the same lady who wrote the Eat the Frog article, so if you enjoyed that one, you'll like this one. Other side note, I started reading the Eat the Frog book today and wasn't impressed. It seemed a little over complicated to be a book about simplifying your life). 

The other exercise is to choose an area in which you especially struggle with being behind or running late. Write a simple plan for how you are going to stop procrastinating, start planning ahead, and begin getting things done early.