Do you feel overwhelmed by a messy house or a teetering pile of paperwork because you’ve been too busy to deal with it? That’s where I was last month. I was preparing to speak at a women’s retreat, so housework fell w-a-y down on my priority list. By the time the retreat was over, I faced piles of unfinished work, dust bunnies the size of hedgehogs, and tons of guilt for letting things go. Worse, I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know how I’d ever conquer the mess.
We know how this goes…
The more I procrastinate, the larger the pile of unfinished tasks. The larger the pile, the more overwhelmed I feel. And when I feel overwhelmed, I become paralyzed—so I put the problem off, which leads to yet more unfinished tasks…
It’s an ugly cycle.
Here’s how to get out of the procrastination cycle and conquer the mess.
You don’t need to get stuck feeling overwhelmed by a messy life.
The first step to conquering the neglected mess is shifting our heads away from unhelpful mindsets. Because all the cleaning strategies in the world won’t help if our mindset still sees the problem as too big to handle.
The good news is that we can shift our mindsets.
Here are three common excuses for procrastinating and the mindset shifts that help us overcome them:
1 If I can’t “do it right” I shouldn’t do it at all
Sometimes we’re overwhelmed by the mess because we hold ourselves to impossible levels of tidiness. We have a scolding voice in our heads that insists everything we do must be done to perfection.
We know we don’t have the time to clean to the level we aspire to, so we put the whole project aside. Again and again.
Let me ask you, which gets you closer to a perfectly tidy house, doing nothing or doing something?
Mindset shift: Change your definition of success from “Perfect” to “Progress”
When our messy life has gotten out of control, we aren’t in Housekeeper of the Year mode. We’re in survival mode. Striving for perfection isn’t part of the equation.
When we shift our definition of success from “I am a perfect housekeeper” to “I made progress on the mess today” we enable ourselves to start small and make incremental progress.
When we shift our mindset from “I’m a terrible housekeeper if my house isn’t perfect” to “I’m the sort of person who enjoys getting small jobs accomplished every day,” we set ourselves up for success instead of failure.
2 The project is too big for me to face today
Do you hate to start something if you don’t think you’ll have time to finish the project in one go? If so, it’s no surprise you feel paralyzed and overwhelmed by a neglected mess that’s grown too big to ignore. How will you ever conquer it with everything else on your plate?
Short answer: So long as you see the problem as one huge job, you never will.
Mindset shift: (Sub)divide and conquer
Instead of seeing the mess as one huge boulder, view it as a big pile of smaller stones. Shift your focus from the whole project (way too big to tackle) and look for a task that is small enough to accomplish in the time you have today.
3 I’ll get to it when I have more time
Sure you will.
Let’s be honest, if you did find yourself a free day, would you really want to spend it cleaning? I’m betting not.
So the real problem isn’t finding the time, it’s choosing to spend the time you have on a task you don’t particularly enjoy.
But here’s the good news. We have more time than we think if we focus on small increments.
Mindset shift: You can get a lot done in 5-minute chunks
I’ll be the first to admit I’m lousy at multitasking, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m applying the subdivide and conquer mindset from above. We all can carve out five-minute segments in our schedule to accomplish one small task.
Think how much you might accomplish if you spent three small chunks of time each day conquering the mess in your life.
Three simple tips to overcome your overwhelm and conquer the mess
1 Think in micro-tasks
Break big jobs into smaller ones. Then break those jobs into even smaller steps until you come up with micro-tasks that can be accomplished in just a few minutes.
Once you’ve reduced your boulder into 5-minute pebbles, you are ready to begin conquering the mess. Remember, doing something is better than doing nothing. And since starting is half the battle in any project, learning to break an overwhelming task into small, doable chunks is a powerful tool for making progress.
Now begin to look for small snippets of time where you can accomplish a micro-task. Tidy a kitchen drawer while nuking a cup of water for tea. Spend five minutes of your lunch break filing papers. Shelve that pile of books in the seven minutes you have before you need to pick your child up at school.
Imagine how much progress you could make if you accomplished three micro-tasks every day.
2 Try the one-task-a-day approach
Some projects lend themselves to slow, steady, daily progress. Tackle one segment of the task each day until you’ve conquered the entire thing.
Here’s an example: One summer we had unsightly piles of dirt left over from a construction project. Every day I went out and filled our wheelbarrow with one load of dirt. Every evening my husband would empty the wheelbarrow and bring it back for me to fill again. Bit by bit, the piles disappeared.
I’ve successfully used the one-task-a-day approach to work through washing all the windows in the house, and to work my way through decluttering the drawers and shelves in a cabinet.
3 Use a timer
Want to conquer the mess without letting it take over your day? Use a timer.
I know how easy it can be to start a task and then get sucked into doing much more than I’d intended. If you’re afraid this might happen if you begin waging war with the dust bunnies, take advantage of a timer.
Here are two rules that will help this approach be more effective and successful:
- Stay on task during your session. (Challenge yourself to get as much done as possible.)
- Stop when the timer goes off. (Remember, we’re aiming at progress, not perfection.)
This technique let’s you be in control—you decide when to start and when to stop—and that sense of control reduces the feeling of overwhelm.
Go forth and conquer
Sometimes life happens. Things get busy and stuff piles up. It’s OK.
But you don’t need to let the messes in your life keep you paralyzed. Instead of procrastinating and letting the guilt pile up, use these tips to begin conquering the mess.
Which mindset shift will help you get past your overwhelm and begin making progress? Repeat it to yourself five times. Then pick one of the three strategies and make a micro-task’s worth of progress today.
Then do it again tomorrow. You got this!
