The longest journey starts with one step.
Bilbo Baggins
It sounds cliche´, but it’s true. Remember the first rule of building your minimax system to get your stuff and your space organized… just get started. That’s why it’s the first rule of minimax! (I’m channeling my inner Tyler Durden right now… haha!)
controlling your stuff and yourself
Do you ever feel like you lose control when you’re in the middle of a task? I do… in fact that’s what the the Zen masters call ‘being one’ with whatever you do. You lose yourself in the activity and the whole world seems to go away as you focus intently on the task at hand. It’s a form of meditation.
This can be a good thing, but sometimes I need to restrain myself from getting carried away, doing too much at once, and burning out on the whole process… Does that happen to you too? Maybe we are ‘being one’ with our minimalist activity a bit too much?
Since you’re reading this blog and becoming a minimaxer yourself, I’m sure you know the feeling. The last thing we want to do is burn ourselves out!
We all need gentle reminders now and then to stay on the path, do what we know works, and succeed – especially when weariness creeps into our psyche.
OK – are you ready for a pop quiz? The question is: How do we tackle this challenge? …how do we minimize our stuff, optimize our space, and maximize our creativity and happiness – without overdoing it and burning out?
focus on your system and follow the process
That’s the answer… surprised?
Of course not – as a minimaxer you already know it’s all about the system. Sometimes we need a little reminder to help us keep our focus. That’s what this blog is all about really – it’s here to remind us (mostly me) to follow the process and keep the faith!
To keep from burning ourselves out on the never ending tasks of stuff management, we need to focus on the process and make adjustments as we make progress… we’re in this for the long run, not the short sprint!
Normally when we start something we want to see it through and finish it – the faster, the better! However, with larger tasks you may delay the start because you don’t know how long it will take… just that it will be a long time, it will be a lot of work, or it will be emotionally exhausting. This hesitation is classic procrastination thinking!
Add the ‘small step’ trick to your minimax system to get stuff done.
A good trick to add to your minimax system is using the power of small steps. A small step gets you started, and each subsequent small step leads you closer to the finish line. Think big and you may never even start, but think small and you will get stuff done.
getting stuff done
Using the minimax philosophy we counter this natural procrastination tendency by starting small. One step at a time. We embrace the mess, so to speak, and apply our energy to manage our stuff methodically and systematically. But sometimes we
Our minimax trick is to focus on the parts of the big thing that make up the whole task. Some project management folks call this “chunking it down” – breaking down a project into the small steps that need to be accomplished to get the whole project done.
Perfectionists have a problem here because they can’t take their mind off the big picture and the big goal they want to achieve. This can overwhelm us – we see all the work required to make something perfect and procrastinate starting until we have time to “do it right.”
Of course, there is never enough time, so the perfectionist always runs out of time.
Eventually the task becomes irrelevant, the opportunity window closes, or the stuff is simply forgotten in a big pile of dusty junk. Don’t be that person!
Remember your minimax system to organize and maximize your stuff?
The system reduces your big task to small manageable ‘chunks’ to focus your energy. You can use a few minutes here or there if that’s all you have. Your system is designed to let you come back to the task whenever you need to because you know where you are in the process and what the next step is… you don’t have the burnout of trying to get it done now because you can come back to it later.
What small step can you start on today to move a project or task forward?