In order to really see and experience the full effect of organizing efforts, it's important to see a task through to the very end, do it all, take care of everything in terms of the particular chore or project at hand. This may seem obvious, but it's opposite of the tack I usually take, which is the slackerly anthem, "something's better than nothing."
Indeed, something is often better than nothing, especially when it comes to cleaning. A swept floor is better than an unswept floor, even if it isn't mopped; counters wiped, however imperfectly, is better than not doing it at all. And maybe it is better to get a few papers off your desk, file a few away when you have a spare moment, even if you can't tackle an entire pile at once. But when it comes to feeling a sense of real satisfaction--and that's what we're talking about here--follow-through is what makes the difference between seeing the fruits of your labor and wondering why the hell you just spent all that time slaving away for nothing.
Perhaps the biggest surpise to me in this past month-plus on the Quest is how complete satisfaction can be had for very little additional time on a task. I began to realize that my burn-out point is at about the 80% or 90% mark. Alpay has long noticed this about me and came up with his own name for it years ago: he calls it 10 yards left to go, and it drives him crazy. "Why would you do all that work and not finish the last bit?" he will ask. My answer had always been: because I just did all that work. But I'm beginning to see his point.
You can spend hours as I recently did, filing things away, but leave the last bill or letter or manual unfiled and you might as well leave 50, because one 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper takes up the same area on a desk as a small stack. You can spend half an hour or an hour organizing a tool box, but it doesn't help if you leave several handfuls of odds and ends out of the box, creating a small chaos zone that never quite gets picked up.
For me, I finally understood the difference follow-through makes after I tackled the spice shelves on my Put-Off List. When I was done, the shelves and everything on them looked great, but a small cache of things that had no home had gathered on the floor beneath the shelves, making the whole area look untidy. And I thought: why exactly did I just spend all that time cleaning and scrubbing away if it still looks like a mess 2 hours later?
With the newly open spot on my List, I decided to add the first new item to it: find homes for the homeless. While it took almost an hour to do so, that hour is what made the difference between being frustrated with my effort and being satisfied with it.
Finding Homes for the Homeless
