I used to see things around the house that I needed to deal with and I would think to myself “I’ll do that later” and then I’d forget about it as I continued on with whatever I was doing. Later that same day I might see it again and think to myself “I’ll do that later.” This cycle of noticing it and not doing anything about it would continue on until at some point I would either forget about it or eventually do whatever it was that needed to be done. Because later I would be sitting on the couch and would have no idea what any of the things were that I told myself I’d do.

I did this with all kinds of things. Hair things on the mantel that needed to be put away. Things that I had bought for myself that needed to get tried on or put away (or even worse, returned). The kids’ artwork that I didn’t know what to do with. Glasses on the counter that for some reason didn’t make it into the dishwasher. This is a special case because my husband usually loads the dishwasher and sometimes he will keep things out of the dishwasher for days on end, just languishing on the counter for some unknown reason I can’t comprehend. I would see them and wonder why they were still out and probably even get irritated because had no idea why he didn’t just put them in the dishwasher. But it would take me days of seeing it and getting irritated until I would finally do something about it. Days of getting irritated over something that takes 2 seconds to do! [Read more…] about Why I Don’t Tell Myself “I’ll Do It Later”