Be A Finisher

I was swimming laps this week with my 9-year-old for the first time since I hurt my ankle. I haven't been moving much for the last 3 weeks because of my ankle, so about half way through her laps, I started to get tired. I (slyly) suggested we take a break and come back to finish the rest later. She said, "No mom, I just want to get them finished."

Learning to be a finisher is a great step toward getting organized. What would happen if you always swept the floor AND got the stuff you swept into the garbage can? What would happen if you cleaned out the closet AND put away the loose ends that don't really go back in that closet? What would happen if you shopped for food storage AND got it put away? Finishing empowers you. You can be done with something and move on to something else.

I love to have a list of the things I'm doing AND I love to cross them off when I'm done. The hitch is, I can't cross them off until I'm ALL THE WAY DONE. I love to cross things off my list and it motivates me to finish all the way. But something else happens when I finish all the way - I'm done. I don't have straggly, undone, incomplete, half-way done, everything hanging around me. I'm done.

And something else happens. I start to see what really is important to me. If it's not worth finishing, maybe it's not worth starting.

Try it. Let me know if you finish something and how it works for you.