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Post by def6 on Jul 1, 2010 15:28:05 GMT -5
#1 It's hard to get started...thats why we do" fill a trash bag" Ta Da's. #2 It's hard to finish. Sometimes that last little thing never gets filed. Are you odd? Not by my standards!
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Post by messimo on Jul 2, 2010 2:57:49 GMT -5
Thank you all so much for your responses. I feel better knowing that I'm not alone! Now to just finish something...
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Post by howardsgirlfriend on Jul 3, 2010 15:48:35 GMT -5
Maybe the problem lies in your assumptions about "finish."
If by "finish" you mean that you'll never have to do anything with it again, you might want to consider that housework's never "finished." You can only hope to keep gaining on it.
My non-gardening DH once asked me when the gardens would be "done." Uhhh....never! Once I'd finished planting all the areas, I'm now revising areas that I want to improve. As long as I have a garden, rain will fall, plants will grow, etc--it's never "finished," and that's part of its charm. It's always changing; tomorrow it will be just a little different than today.
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Post by messymimi on Jul 3, 2010 17:48:42 GMT -5
Howard's Girlfriend, that is what is called job security!
messymimi
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Post by ClutterBlind on Jul 3, 2010 19:19:49 GMT -5
I have this problem, too. I can stare at a specific mess for days/weeks/months and know I need to tackle it. When I finally around to standing in front of it, I get overwhelmed, I don't know what to do. I may actually pick up an object, but I have no home for it. That's why it ended up there in the first place. Like everything else here. If they had an assigned home, and one that is easy to get in and out, I could put them away. I end up putting that item back down. I pick up a second piece. Same problem. Pick up a third. Three strikes & I'm out of that pile. starting things is appealing on a lot of grounds, but then the ongoing slog... can become less interesting. Lots of people prefer starting new things to actually ever finishing them.. the rewards seem less as one goes along... Husband of a friend of mine was always promising things, everyone would get excited, he felt great, plenty of rewards in that - but then he never did the things he had promised - really, he had already got the reward... similarities with cleaning I think, in that some of us find the starting to be where we get all enthused, then the interest wanes... I read somewhere that for people who don't finish projects, it may not be a sign of failure. Just that we have a different reason for doing things. I like to start different craft hobbies. I'm always intrigued by how to do things. The process. Once I get far enough along to figure out the process, and can see where it's going, how it will be finished, I don't need to keep going to the end. Having an actual finished project may not be as important to me and understanding the process. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for housework. Visualizing the completed end isn't quite the same as actually having a cleaned off countertop!
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Post by eatingbonbons on Jul 3, 2010 19:32:51 GMT -5
"I read somewhere that for people who don't finish projects it may not be a sign of failure. Just that we have a different reason for doing things. I like to start different craft hobbies. I'm always intrigued by how to do things. The process. Once I get far enough along to figure out the process, and can see where it's going, how it will be finished, I don't need to keep going to the end. Having an actual finished project may not be as important to me as understanding the process."
This is very, very interesting, MoggyFan. I could see that idea describing me and my approach very realistically.
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Post by messimo on Jul 5, 2010 21:21:37 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the insights. I think I've figured out at least a small part of it. I think that part of the reason why I'll remove all but a few things from a surface is because those things don't have a place, and even for some things that did have a place, I don't know where the binder/file folder/whatever is any more. But that's only one small part of it. Another thing is that because I haven't maintained, I allow things to get caked with dust/grime. So when it's time to declutter, it's easy to grab things and shove them in the trash or recycle bin. However, then I'm left with a bunch of dust/grime and I just don't want to deal with that. Which is weird, because I don't like dust/grime, and if I would just dust every so often I wouldn't have to deal with the huge amounts of it. Sigh. I get a bit frustrated with myself because I'll be somewhat motivated to begin, and then sort of peter out toward the end. This doesn't necessarily happen in all areas of my life, either. I do finish some things.
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Post by uualto1973 on Jul 6, 2010 21:29:35 GMT -5
I read somewhere that for people who don't finish projects int may not be a sign of failure. Just that we have a different reason for doing things. I like to start different craft hobbies. I'm always intrigued by how to do things. The process. Once I get far enough along to figure out the process, and can see where it's going, how it will be finished, I don't need to keep going to the end. Having an actual finished project may not be as important to me and understanding the process. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for housework. Visualizing the completed end isn't quite the same as actually having a cleaned off countertop! [/quote] That's me! I love the learning aspect of tackling projects. That's why I start (but rarely finish) knitting projects. I have my first sock still on the needles. Once I got through the heel, and felt like I understood how the rest was supposed to get done, I thought "Oh! Now I get it!". If I "get it", why both with actually doing it?
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