I recently saw a post in our STEP Mastery Facebook group from one of our community members that sparked this podcast topic idea.
This person had a beautiful jewelry storage display hanging on their wall, but one of their cats had knocked it down and created a pile of bracelets and necklaces.
This community member wrote that they wanted to learn how to deal with this kind of thing. “Clean up and organize jewelry” was not on their to-do list for the day, but they knew that it needed to be completed at some point.
How do we decide when to tackle the broken things in our lives that need our attention? Here’s a simple framework that I recommend:
Can you handle it in 2 minutes or less?
Just do it! This task doesn’t need to go on the Next Actions List, and it can be taken care of quickly and in the moment.
Will it take 10 minutes or so, but you have all the tools and supplies, but you don’t have time now?
This is when I would put it on my Next Actions List under the “home” category. During the week, I will look at this list when I am at home and have some free/flexible time and complete this particular task.
Is it a major thing that will take multiple steps?
If so, it is a project and belongs on one of two lists. If the task is urgent, it goes on your CURRENT projects list. This project will then be broken down into simple steps that could not possibly be procrastinated and added to your Next Actions List when appropriate.
If the project is not urgent, it can go on your Next in Line or Someday projects list and will remain there until you have the time and energy to bring it to your list of current projects. Then put the items, if there are any, in an out-of-the way place where it can sit until you can get to it. I like to reference these kinds of items on my projects list so that it doesn’t take any additional thought, effort, or energy to locate them when I am ready to work on the project.
I hope that this framework is helpful to you! Are there any broken things in your life that you can better categorize and work on now? We’d love to hear from you in the comments! 🙂
Related Links:
- [PODCAST 187]: Making a Plan for Inevitable Obstacles
- Are you new to LearnDoBecome and the STEP Program? Click here for our free introductory training: How to Finally Stop Drowning in Piles.
- Ready to join our program, build a Command Central, and become a STEPper? This link has all of the information in one place for you!
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