Every day I congratulate myself for what I have done that I don’t have to do now. Why do it today? Because I love my future self, and I want to take care of her. Yep. If it has to be done, no time like the present. What I do today will mean I do not have to do it later (sometimes it just reduces the size of ongoing tasks), and that means I will have time to do something else.
Do Today, What You Can
I cannot tell you how many years it took me to realize I was helping myself — that is my future self — by tackling what I can do today. It doesn’t remove procrastinating, but this is such a game changer and, I suspect, a sign of maturation I didn’t ever anticipate I would welcome.
Are you looking for ways to introduce self care into your life? What is self care other than trading off good-for-you over not-so-good-for-you? Making folding the laundry self care seems counter intuitive since no one wants to fold the laundry, but think of how awesome it will be to not have the pile staring at you, to have things put away and where you can find them, and to have time later on because you don’t have that task looming over you. This can cost absolutely nothing, and with a little training, you too will be congratulating yourself for what you do today.
Every Sunday I am home I do the ironing. I listen to a book or talk to a friend in California.
What You Can Do Today?
You know I’m going to talk about how you can make your knitting more productive by doing . . . .
- Don’t put that piece you just finished down until you have worked in the ends and gotten it ready for the next step.
- Make a plan for what you need to do at each stage of a project so you can check things off your plan.
- Calendar things like finishing so they get inserted into your routine.
- Gather all the supplies you need, and put the yarn, needles, supplies, pattern (if needed) into a project container.
- Using electronic documents? Bookmark them on your device for easy access.
- Read through the pattern and make a road map of all the steps — just so you know.
- Make a swatch for a future project. time your knitting, record unblocked, then blocked gauge. Calculate: how many rows for length measurements, how much time you need to knit each piece, and how much yarn you use.
Literally dropped on the couch mid-bind off.
While this takes some of the fun, seat-of-your pants feeling out of your knitting, it may make it more satisfying to have a distinct beginning, middle, and end, to your projects.
Making Do Today Palatable
I like to have a variety of projects going, at different stages. I have to have something easy, something in-between, and something thoughtful. Once I get to a point where a project needs more attention than I have to give it, it gets put aside. If I don’t know what I need to do next, I need to figure that out ASAP or it will languish. This is why swatches are so fun to me. I can do something new, but they are quickly completed.
I try to review my previous day’s knitting in the morning. I’ve usually just dropped it on the couch, so before I go up to work I figure out what is next. If it is something I won’t be able to resolve before my next knitting session, I need to have another project to pick up.
When I am itching to start a new project, but really need to focus on completion, I put the new yarn where I can see it, but leave it in hanks so I can’t inadvertently start knitting it. Since I am usually unwilling to get up once I hit the couch, I can sometimes make myself do something unpalatable by not having anything else nearby to work on.
Do Today Help
There is not a magic bullet to this, but instead I will offer to show you ways to get through. I love routines because those are things I don’t have to think about. Once something moves from I don’t want to do it today I no longer have to argue with myself about it. I often challenge myself to get a task done while waiting for something else to occur. Then I get two things done and I can move on to something I would rather do.
Join me at my Do Today webinar on June 11. I’ll take you through the steps, and tell you what has and hasn’t worked for me.
Join me at the Pattern Specific Calculators webinar on June 4 and I’ll show you how to create any size, any gauge projects for Positano and Lyon.
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