Fixin' to Think About Getting Started ~ Jacquolyn McMurray

Photo by Juan Rumimpunu on Unsplash

At our house we often say we're fixin' to think about getting ready to start something. It's incredibly easy to put off things we’re not quite prepared to tackle—cleaning a closet, organizing photos, or starting that new book.

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

I'm full of excuses. No sense cleaning a closet when all the 
local thrift stores are closed due to COVID. Where would I put all those clothes I plan to give away? They might as well stay where they are.

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

And don't get me started on all the reasons I can't organize the photos, not to mention umpteen carousels of slides from the 70s.

First of all, the photos are in several places--physical photographs in boxes and albums, digital images stored in at least three different clouds, some stored on my hard drive, and others stored on memory sticks. There are simply too many choices on where to store them.  

And really, who wants someone else's photos? Most of them are only meaningful to hubby and me. My focus at this point is to gather photos I think our kids and grandkids will enjoy. 

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

And then there's the plethora of reasons I can't get chapter one started in my newest book--do I really know my protagonist well enough to start penning her journey? And what about her hubby? Don't I need to know his unique backstory and his goals and motivations? 

I'm reminded of one of my favorite episodes of The Bob Newhart Show. Does anyone else remember that TV series? It aired between 1972 and 1978 and Suzanne Pleshette played Newhart's wife. Bob played a psychologist who had some issues of his own, including needing everything in place before he started a task. 

Photo from wikipedia

One weekend, he and his wife decided to trade chores.  I'm not sure I remember all the particulars, but the gist is that Emily left the apartment to go do things like get the oil changed in the car and pick up some items at the hardware store while Bob stayed home to complete the chores on his list. His first task was to write checks to pay their bills. 

A couple of hours later, Emily completed everything on her list and returned home to find Bob just setting down to start his first task. When she questioned him about why he hadn't completed anything, he explained that he had to get ready to pay the bills. For Bob that meant finding his lucky socks and hat, trying out different locations in the apartment to spread out the stack of bills and the checkbook, and deciding on the best ink pen for the job.

Sound familiar? Bob fell into the trap of needing everything perfectly organized before he started a simple task. A typical procrastination ploy.

Are you a procrastinator? If so, what kinds of things keep you from starting a project?

While you think that through, I'm fixin' to think about starting to draft that book.