Be nice to yourself: PLAN TO QUIT!

I had a house with a garden. The more I let it go, the less I felt like mowing it. Sometimes I let it go for so long that it looked impossible to get it back in order even if I wanted to. It looked ugly. It should be nice. Guilt. But it's such a mess. Wouldn't know where to start even if I felt like it.

"I will cut just this 1 square meter, and nothing more." I'd point to the patch, and start cutting right away. 1 square meter. 10 minutes.

Better than, again, not doing anything. At least I would have taken on my own overgrowing frustration of letting things go. 10 minutes and I'd be done and I could go back to 'not gardening'.

Two days later the garden would look absolutely gorgeous (the Gardening Spirit visits you when you are gardening). A job well done. Not planned. I planned to do just that 1 sqm patch and stop.

And that, my dear procastinating friend, is the important step. PLAN TO QUIT!

THE SMALLER THE PLAN, THE MORE YOU ACT.

If I don't plan to stop, I look at the whole overgrown garden, start ruminating, delay, it has to be perfect, I feel bad about letting things go, achieving perfection is getting even more impossible, growing guilt, ....

Be nice to yourself. Just the one little patch my friend. That's all for today. Don't even expect the Gardening Spirit to visit you.