Someone Else Just Do It…Please!

Posted by chriskuhn on May 26, 2012 in Blog, Inspiration Corner, Kuhnspirations | 0 comments

Do you feel like life is a lot of “gotta-do-this” and not so much “wanna-do-this” lately? Maybe like a lot of us you’ve been caught up in being booked and aren’t really prioritizing the true essential tasks and remembering to include things you like to do into your day, week or month, too. After all, they may not appear like essentials in the big roadmap of your goals but keeping you happy and functional is necessary so you can enjoy your success later, right? Let’s face it – getting sleep and eating right are certainly not sexy objectives but they can make it possible for you to savor your reward later.

I’m a big culprit of this overbooking myself. I always underestimate how long something is going to take and then when I do list five things in the time it would really take me to do one or two of those tasks on the list, I beat myself up for not only being unable to get everything done (read: blaming myself for not being a superhero) and on top of that, I also jab myself for not scheduling it right. I can’t win!

So this week, I proposed what may be for some a tough question because after a while, a busy schedule can start to blur together and become one big plop of “have-to.” But here’s what I asked:

For what areas in your life would you hire someone else to handle your unique gotta-do activities that arise each day, week or month and that you love, oh so much? And who would it be and why?

I told you that you could choose to answer this however you want – have some fun with or take it really seriously as a way to analyze your schedule and look for solutions to sweep away some unnecessary stress.

So how did you do at this week’s challenge?

As for me…

If money were not an object (big caveat here), I would definitely do the following:

• Hire someone to keep up with the basic cleaning and maintenance of my house. I get no personal satisfaction from it. I can think of far better ways to use my free time, so I relinquish all duties over the toilets, dustpans and laundry baskets HAPPILY. I don’t care who it is doing it as long as they don’t steal from me, judge my lack of order or require me to have conversation with them while they do it. I just want to hole up somewhere with the door closed and write peacefully to the whirrrring white noise of the vacuum  in the background.
• Recruit someone to focus on my lawn and landscaping – pulling out the weeds, doing the edging, trimming, mowing, leafblowing – and leaving me the heck out of the process. It takes me three times as long as someone who knows what they’re doing and I usually need a half-day off after I’m through! And hey, maybe somewhere, anywhere, they could even plant some – what do you call them… flowers? — or even a tree here and there where it makes sense. Me? Not gonna’ do it, but if they can, that would be superb.
• Tap someone to whip up a great low-fat, low-sodium, low-cal menu EVERY NIGHT and oh, do the grocery shopping while they’re at it. I hate shopping and while I enjoy cooking, I don’t have this deep-rooted desire to do it every night. I was already running out of menu ideas after doing this for 17+ years of living with my fella but now with the latest dietary requirements thrown into the mix as part of his post-hospital diet, I’m tapped out. A great friend purchased a low-sodium cookbook for me and I’ve flipped through it a little, but now if only Rachel Ray or Curtis Stone (meow) would just come in and figure it all out, buy the ingredients and make the stuff, I will gladly be a willing diner at their restaurant!
• Find someone to do all of my shopping — no, not just the groceries but any shopping – especially clothing, but those trips to big box stores, specialty shops and mom-and-pop stores, the Targets and WalMart trips. I hate them all. Personally, I don’t enjoy shopping in the slightest.  I hear that I’m supposed to because I’m a woman, but as a poor woman, I find no pleasure in looking at things I can’t afford to buy and then when I do actually make purchases that I probably shouldn’t have, giving myself a hard time about it later. Now I will say that sometimes when I am specifically shopping for a special occasion gift – like a graduation, wedding, milestone birthday or baby shower, I can have a blast! When I’m really getting a chance to make someone’s eyes pop out and give them something they’ve articulated that they really want, I love nothing more than to find creative gift ideas and come up with a unique way to deliver it. But any of the “have-to” shopping…forget it! You go do it and I’ll gladly drop you off on my way to the movies or the beach. No glee in that spree whatsoever.

I’m sure I just sound whiny – and well, there’s certainly some truth to that, but I really do wonder sometimes if life could be as easy and focused as they make it on shows like The Biggest Loser and Big Brother where there really is just one goal on your plate and you aren’t faced with integrating the process of tackling these goals amid work conflicts, housework, kid-pet-spouse issues that arise, car problems, etc., how wonderful would that world be, huh? Like living on an island with all of your basic needs and just one mission at hand and all other stresses and responsibilities washed away.

Between this blog and my last one, I feel like I’m channeling Peter Pan a bit this weekend. You think?

So let me know how you did when thinking about this challenge, where you’d strip away the crap (or what you perceive as necessary but pain-in-the-ass tasks) and how you’d do it.   And good luck making it happen in whatever way you can.

Life’s too short to spend it clearing away dust bunnies if you ask me. And now, I ask you.

Cheers to finding that daily spark in your life!

Chris