For people who avoid making mountains out of molehills, from Stephan Pastis. Click the image to be taken to a larger view at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.
My problem is that I've got so many problitos, I can't afford to concentrate on any one of them long enough to make a mountain out of that particular molehill. I've got problitos popping up all over the place!
Oh, well . . .
Peter
10 comments:
Quite some time back I established a rule: The To-Do list will be limited to the space on a Post-it note. As items were lined off nothing was added if the note was full. Wen the note had everything lined off I congratulated myself, took a breather, and then started a new note.
Didn't work. :-(
As part of my Christian duty to comfort my fellow man (that includes the fellow creatures known as wo-man), a favourite is "well, it could always be worse". One may be in prison, malnourished and sleep deprived, sick and fearful, persecuted by guards and inmates, and still make either kind laugh or cry or flash to a moment of sober thought, with a few words or a glqnce or a pratfall, that gets them back on somewhat righteous behaviour track. Or, it doesn't work, and one comforts oneself with the thought that one at least tried, and still has the option of shocking brutality to modify others' behaviour. May God have mercy on us all, and thanks be to Him for learning moments. He did say that we are never tested beyond our capacity to endure....
Stefan v.
Don't we all, Brother, don't we all...
I have a small farm. Every day I tackle 1 big project and 1 small project, or some days I'll just go after as many small projects as I can-they do add up. Maintenance is a never ending issue.
Then, of course, there is the Honey do list. She won't even consent to their completion being great Christmas presents.
"...problito..." implies that all small, annoying problems are masculine.
I'm no mental health professional so I'll keep this in terms of my own experience rather than advice to anyone else:
I find that when I start feeling overwhelmed by the length of my "to do" list, tackling a couple of those "problitos" can really help me find my motivation to do more.
Completing a task, even a fairly simple one that doesn't take much effort, gives me a sense of accomplishment that reinvigorates me to take on more difficult tasks that I've been putting off.
Sometimes I'll spend an entire day tackling those "problitos" one by one and knocking out as many as I can. The feeling of success with dealing with some of those niggling simple little tasks can really be a boon to my mental health and sense of accomplishment...and that helps drive the motivation to get started on the projects that are going to take more time and effort than changing a toilet seat or replacing a light fixture or oiling some squeaky hinges.
Related to the topic? Lawdog's website has been suspended. Anybody knows why?
JaimeInTexas
Someone in our church group suggested one Saturday a month getting a group together to go to someone's home and do just this. Fix all those problems the family/widow/single mom etc haven't been able to get done. We are all busy but taking the time to serve another once a month and then in turn be served one of those months can do a lot. Every one has skills that could be of service to someone but might not have the ones necessary to fix all their own. It can do more than just assist in those jobs. Can give purpose to those feeling useless. Can teach children skills they might not learn otherwise. With patience the handy man of the group would teach others skills making each week more effective. A great idea I think should spread like wildfire!
Hmm, curious. I have a different perspective on problitos, based on one experience in fixing one. It was a problito that was an annoyance every single day. Fixing it made a noticeable difference in my life, which I did not expect. So now I prioritize any problito that I hit every day. And it seems to work. YMMV, of course.
BobF:
I have a similar system using a dry-erase board on the fridge.
Same results as you :-) but with the benefit that I can be relieved of my burdens by walking by the list a little too closely and leaving things too smudged to read. Darn.
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