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Hi y’all. So how did that Have-Done List work out for you last week? I’ve heard from a few of you and the general response seems to be:

“Holy Sh*t! Look at all that stuff I just did!”

In the movie Sneakers there’s a scene where Robert Redford’s character is repeatedly saying the team’s code word over and over again in front of the bad guys. Finally, his partner, played by River Phoenix, breaks through the acoustic ceiling panel where he’s been lying in wait and lands on the bad guys. Redford says something like, “It’s about time.” Phoenix replies, “That was hard what I just did…that thing, that was hard!”

That’s kind of how I feel when I look at my Have-Done list. I feel a little bit marveled, and a little bit put out that no one is noticing how tricky it was. So this week, I just want to say, I notice. I see you, doing all that stuff and you are freakin’ amazing! (Let’s try to rest in the sparkly and marvelous moment, shall we?)

A Word About Gremlins
Now, before we move on to step two, let me lay out a little word of encouragement for some of you. Some of you may have had a Gremlin uprising last week. The little buggers may be doing that thing where they poke you repeatedly on the shoulder and say the same things over and over again. And if they aren’t poking you in the shoulder right now, they’re probably just cracking their knuckles and flexing their fingers for next week. There’s no point in ignoring them, so let’s just take a mo’ to hear them out.  Here’s what they might be saying:

“You waste so much time.”
“If you cut back on any of this it will mean you’ll cut back on being a ‘good’ parent.”
“There’s so much here, but nothing you can cut out.”
“Sure this is impressive, but look at all the stuff you DIDN’T get done.”
“Sure this is impressive, but SO-and-SO did waaaaaaay more.”
“What about the one thing…that thing right there…N-A-P…yeah, that was a big waste.”
“Now on top of all that stuff, next week we should also _______________.” 

You can fill in your gremlin’s ‘House Special’ here:

 

Now the Gremlins, they aren’t all bad. Sometimes they are even trying to protect us. It’s just that they kind of have a one-track mind. And Change? They do not like Change AT ALL. So they get kind of chatty when new things come up. The thing to do is to sit them down and pour them a nice vodka tonic and let them chillax a little. Write down all their messages and just give them back to them. “Thank you, Gremlin Dears. Here are these words you feel so strongly about. You can just hold on to them now. Do you need a slice of lime in your cocktail?” 

I know it seems ridiculous, but it helps, trust me.  Write, Hand Off, Repeat. They will quieten down eventually. (Got a better method of combating these messages?  I bet you do! Put it in the comments below for the more rational types out there who don’t jive with Gremlin happy hour.)

The Next Step
Okay, the next step—if you can get the Gremlins to GET OFF THE PAPER!!! long enough for you to read it–is to do a little bit closer observation of your Have-Done List. Spread it all out in front of you and:

 -Grab three colored highlighters. (Don’t have highlighters? – just use a code like star, checkmark, dot.)
-Invite a gentle and non-judgmental spirit to sit down with you. (I like to breathe her into my heart.)
-Give yourself permission to do this intuitively, without over thinking it. (Say it aloud, it helps.)
-Go thru your list and use one color for each of these three things:

Category One: Things that are absolute essentials. (eating, bathing, sleeping, etc.)
Category Two: Things that feed me/give me good energy.
Category Three: Things that drain me/give me bad energy.

Now, I know you want to go back through your list and fine tune it. This is because either:

 1) You are a Type A personality -OR-
B) You don’t trust your intuition. -OR-
 iii) You are a combination of both.

That’s okay. So say we all. So let’s give ourselves a little wiggle room here. Let’s allow ourselves to go back over the list and make 3 category changes. Just 3. And let’s  set a timer so we don’t take more than 3-5 minutes deciding which three. This will let us practice two things: releasing perfectionism and trusting our intuition. (In short, it gives us a chance to practice Doing Less.) Ready? Go!

Good job! Okay, now you’ve got this little bit of an observed life: the stuff you have to do; the stuff you like to do; and the stuff that sucks your soul. I know that RIGHT NOW you want to move it all around and make decisions about what stays and what goes. But stay the course a little. Just give yourself a week to live with this newly recognized reality – “This is what I do nowadays. This is how my time goes.” Let the reality of what you are doing now sink in a bit, because guess what’s coming up next!

Up Next:  Setting limits and simplifying,The Power of Less way.
I’m writing this series on a fast and dirty philosophy, which is part of how I get more done while doing less . (I’ll tell you about it more in a later post.) But for now let’s just say that the fast and dirty approach means I have a rough outline, but not a perfectly-detailed master plan. So the Up Next may change as I continue to reflect on what’s worked for me, and how to distill that so it’s helpful for you.  But for right now Up Next will mean dipping into Leo Babauta’s The Power of Less – an excellent little book on doing less to live more. The first two things in Leo’s book are setting limits and simplifying. We’ll start working on those next week – and you will be amazed at how powerful those are. (And guess what? They are easy!)

You don’t HAVE to have the book to join the The DO LESS Revolution – but if you want to read or listen along, now is the time to order. I downloaded mine instantly from Audible.com, and while Jen Lee has accurately pointed out that the reader sounds annoyingly like Mr. Movie Phone, if you can bear that sound then you might find that listening along is easier than reading along. (I listen while I take my morning walk.)  Check out the sample on the Audible site and see what you think.

Okay, just one more little caveat before you all run over to Zen Habits to become a fellow Leo junkie. I love Leo’s work, I really do. But sometimes he rocks this “20 Steps to Better Eating Habits” thing and, IDK, I just think 20 of anything is about 17 too many. (I like between 3 and *8Things, thank you very much.) Also, he’s in the middle of a redesign, which is a bit tough to navigate right now. So if you feel a little fragile, and think one more suggestion for life improvement might push you over the edge, then maybe you shouldn’t head over there just yet. It’s your call, I’m just sayin’.

Alright loves, it’s time for another week of being hopeful for a Do Less kind of tomorrow. Have fun gazing at your Have-Done List, and don’t forget to let us know how it’s going, because we can fine-tune along the way. In my experience, these next steps were about as close to instant gratification as you can get, so go recruit someone new to The DO LESS Revolution! It’s about to get really good.

Yours Warmly,

Magpie Girl

The Do Less Revolution is an on-going, start-any-time project of Magpie Girl. Click here to join or find all the Do Less posts here. Recieve an update on new Do Less items by following us on Twitter. Thanks for being here!

 

 

Got a question about The DO Less Revolution or anything else under the sun? Ask Magpie is my newest fun-thing, and will be posted most (some?) Wednesdays. Email Rachelle  with “Ask Magpie” in the message line, or watch for reminders on Twitter.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Magpie Girl, Soulcare, podcasts.
Tags: do less, podcasts, Soulcare



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