Hillside Laughter

I think I can . . .

Thinking about how to accomplish a project, especially when the project is a big one, has begun to haunt me a little lately.

Maybe there are several ways to go at projects–such as cleaning the house, rebuilding a bathroom, maintaining the yard, redecorating a bedroom, fixing the floor in the kitchen, writing a book, or organizing a filing system.  Everyone has such projects which seem to hang around patiently (or impatiently) waiting to be vanquished.

So, with my “to do” list emblazoned in my head, I chose to spend some time mentally philosophizing about how different people might approach this problem.  This is what I came up with:

1. Ignorance.  Here the project looks too large for a mere mortal to do.  So the strategy is to ignore whatever it is in the hope that it will go away and bother someone else.  Of course, if “the someone else” is close by, that will never work.  “The someone else” will continually remind me, or be a reminder, of the unaccomplished project.  The brief “resolution” or respite provided by this approach is too ephemeral to be very helpful.  This ignorance may end up looking a lot like indolence!

2. Interval.  Here the strategy is to wait.  To wait until the time is right.  To wait until the whole project has been figured out.  This is not like approach 1, where the purpose is to ignore.  Here the person is going at the project with significant mental fervor and energy.  The “work” will be accomplished after an appropriate interval of appropriate cogitation. The focus will be on the “doneness” of the project.  How it will be when finished.  How great will be the joy.  Whereas in approach 1, there is no movement; in approach 2, there is lots of movement but it is mental and mostly emotional, not practical.  This ends up sounding like procrastination.

3. Increment.  Here the strategy is to do the project in small increments.  This is a “divide and conquer” approach.  Divide or define the project into small pieces and set times and places to do each of these.  This will work.  Each little part accomplished will be an encouragement rather than a reminder of what is not done (as in approach 1).  This is the  way to avoid ignoring and/or procrastinating and, instead, arriving at achieving.

Well, it is time to start on the boxes of stuff that have to be sorted and organized and the dent in the kitchen floor that needs to be fixed.  “My Dear” is promoting approach 3; I am advocating for approach 2.  However, if I don’t get to work soon, my approach 2 will look like a lot like approach 1.

As the hymn says:  “To the work, to the work, . . . toiling on, toiling on . . . ”

What are your thoughts on project-accomplishing strategies?

TLT