Discipline

I'm sitting with this, this evening: Three Small Discipline Habits You Can Train and with the article he links to at the end.

I was completely undisciplined through most of my 20s.  I did whatever "had to" happen next -- I have to get dressed, I have to go to work, I have to make dinner -- but everything else sort of floundered, waiting for inspiration to strike or an urgent deadline to materialize.

My work experiences in my 30s and 40s forced me to find an organizational approach that worked for me, and quick!  I cobbled together bits and pieces from Flylady, from GTD, from zenhabits, and have taught myself through trial and error to pretty consistently be able to meet at least B+ standards for organization, productivity, and reliability (at least when it comes to work tasks).  But I still find myself with a running list of 20-30 items that I've never quite gotten around to.  The curtains I've been meaning to change since we moved into the house, the last half dozen boxes we never quite finished unpacking but instead sit stashed in a corner of a bedroom, a thank you note I've been meaning to write.  A trip to the post office that's been written down on every single ToDo list I've jotted on the backs of envelopes or the bottoms of receipts since the beginning of last month.

I occasionally borrow Flylady's concept of an anti-procrastination day and manage to clear out a half dozen of the highest priority past-due items, but it is so easy to get bogged down by the silliest things -- being intimidated by the idea of a phone call, or searching for exactly the right phrase.

I've tended to work slowly and thoroughly almost meditatively, in part as a way to reject the idea that getting things done has to be stressful (as it was, unavoidably, back when I was always behind on everything).  But I wonder if there's a way to gently and cheerfully challenge myself to a speedier work day.  I wonder if it could, in fact, make getting things done even less stressful, as it would leave me little to no time to worry over getting the words just right in each email I send out, instead focusing on just getting them written, sent, and moving on to the next task.

My work year starts back up in earnest next week.  Perfect timing for a new approach...