Focus Friday: Let's Focus on Doing Things Badly

Lately I've become very aware of something I'm going to call "indecision paralysis." I just made that up. I don't know if it's a thing, but it puts words to what I've been doing in recent days (...months...years?).

You all know I have lots to do, right?

We're moving at the end of May (I blogged about that last week). Dylan graduates from high school on May 20. I still help out a few hours a week at the daycare. I have meals to cook and things to clean and writing projects galore.

So why don't I get very much done each day?

I get the urgent things done. I pay the bills before the deadline (usually). I prepare for meetings and show up for my scheduled shifts at the daycare. I do the easy things like loading the dishwasher, doing the wash, and setting the table.

But the rest of it often doesn't get done because of my "indecision paralysis." 

I'm not sure what to do first, so I don't do anything.

Or I'm not sure if I can do something as well as I would like, so I put it off, reasoning that I'll do it better when I have a huge block of time for it.

Or I don't know exactly how to do something, so I procrastinate.

I watched another TED talk on Youtube the other day. I found one by Olivia Remes called How to Cope With Anxiety (You can read an article that summarizes her points here).

I don't deal with a ton of anxiety, but I could relate when she talked about wasting lots of time deciding what to do and never getting anything done. That's me, I'm afraid.

Her solution: Do it badly.

Just jump in and do whatever you've been putting off. Don't worry about it being perfect or doing it well. You can always come back and fix it after it's finished, or do it better in the future as you practice and learn.

I think I'm going to try this in the days ahead. 

Dylan's party might not be absolutely perfect, but we'll have fun and I won't feel as much stress if I start working on it soon (instead of at the last minute).

There are a couple of tasks I've been putting off because I'm not sure I can do them well. It's time to get started and get them done. It's silly to keep thinking of them with dread and not work on them.

The move...well, that will happen whether I'm ready for it or not, but there's no reason I can't work on packing a little at a time so it doesn't all have to be done in the final few days.

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to decide how to end this week's post. I guess I'm just going to jump in and do it...even if I do it badly.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it [even badly] with all your might..." (Ecclesiastes 9:10a NIV - brackets mine)

Do you get paralyzed by fear and indecision at times? How can focusing on God help you to get things done, even if you do them badly at first?