Start what you can and CELEBRATE!

My wife and I finally got the opportunity to celebrate Spring with some old fashioned yard work. Funny thing, it was that kind of day that would have felt somehow ‘wrong’ if we did not at least get a little sweaty. After all, the sun was out in all its glory, the humidity was nowhere to be found, and best of all, I think Winter is officially off the blog topic list for at least 5 months.

We cleaned up mostly a front flower bed and got some mulch down. I am not a huge fan of mulching everything like most Midwesterners, but it does cut down on the weeds. My wife pruned back some yew plants, and we even mixed some fertilizer up to try to spark them back to their once dense green glory. Though evergreens are technically supposed to be immune to winter here, it is still hard on them. After sweeping and removing the clippings and leaves, the place looked good enough for visitors – on the outside.

Yes, as much as we did, our labor had never made a dent on cleaning up the garage or organizing a closet or two. It was a tad frustrating to be on a roll but then realize that we had barely scratched the surface of our chores. I don’t think that is unique in almost anything we try to do. Often in life, we cannot finish those long lists of tasks and goals. Time is the only commodity that is free to replenish daily and forever, but by nightfall you’ll never have enough of it. I think it is important to relish in the idea that sometimes starting is just as good as finishing, because you have advanced your position no matter how small. You are literally a PART of a solution, rather than the masses of naysayers and doubters who would rather grouse ceaselessly than partake in any action themselves.

So do what you can and even do a little more, but don’t find fault by not always finishing as fast or perfectly as you first desired. The idea is to divide large goals and tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks. Start one or MORE parts of those smaller tasks and knock out what you can. It is much more likely that you will eventually finish a task that you have started over one that you have simply ‘thought’ about starting. At the end of the day, dust off, and CELEBRATE your achievements rather than berate your failures. There will be plenty of time to re-evaluate and plan for the next steps toward ultimate success. But always remember the most important step of ANY goal is to simply - START.