Tag Archives: clean

Perfectionism

I’ve never really thought of myself as a perfectionist, but recently learned that it’s true.  I guess I alway thought it was a good thing, and a perfectionist was organized and put together in all aspect of life.  And some are, just not me.  See, I suffer from perfectionism.  It’s not a good thing.  I can take one small task, and blow it up to Titanic size, then stress over it while making it worse.  One example would be this organizing frenzy I’ve been on.  I got started with Flylady, and absolutely loved it.  She helped me to get my kitchen cleaned out and semi organized, (I say that because I just last weekend went back through the panty, cleaned and labeled shelves.)and has given me some great tips.  That’s also where I’ve self diagnosed myself as a perfectionist.  It’s very hard for me to start a task, because the pre planning is overwhelming.  I need to map it out on paper or in my head until completion, because when I start to work on it, I won’t stop until it’s finished.  No wonder I get overwhelmed!  So I’ve been trying to stick with her program, and develop routines, and only do  a task for 10 to 15 minutes, and for the most part it has worked.  I have slowed down because of all the Christmas things that need done, and also because my to do list just keeps growing, but basically have a routine.  I just think I need to change it a little from what she says.  Flylady has a Monday Home Blessing hour, where she vacuums and does her housework.  You can only do the task for 10 minutes, and then you have to go on to the next.  Well, I can’t vacuum in 10 minutes, nor can I change bed linens on 4 beds in that amount of time.  She also has zone work, which is great.  I’m going to tweak the plan somewhat and develop days specifically for kids rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, LR/FR, and the such, and do those every week.  I’m spending too much time looking for emails from Fly to tell me what to do.  I still want to do her challenges and Zone work, and she’s taught me a bunch.  So, Thanks Fly lady!  I’ll let you know how it goes, but the thought of it is overwhelming right now.  I need to make a list, and rework it, then put it into Excel, and change it 3 or 8 times, then print and laminate and place in my binder.  Perfectionist?  HA!