Procrastination & Compromise Does Not Equal an INTENTIONAL life!

One of the items on my To Do List last weekend was to post a blog that talked about compromise and how it can thwart a plan of intentional living...I even took pictures as proof of how compromise can cause things to pile up and allow clutter to move in and take over.  Often in that clutter and chaos peace leaves!  This has been true in my life many times and in the process of mulling over the idea of how compromise robs us of so many things...the week went by and I had totally missed the compromise post due to procrastination!  This is the story of my life BUT 2016 is supposed to be different because I am on a quest to live INTENTIONALLY!  So...this will now have to be a combo post!  I do feel that compromise and procrastination can go hand in hand and rob us of our intentional living.  Procrastination & Compromise often like to walk along life's path together with Chaos following close behind.

My real life example of this...my kitchen table...I am the Queen of Piles!  And I often just move them about.  I will NOT bore you with the pictures of all my piles just know...I am the Queen!  But with my plan of being INTENTIONAL...keeping things picked up was on my list of things to do ON PURPOSE, intentionally.  When the house is picked up there is just more room for peace and time for things that really matter - people, relationships, and healthy living.  And it just isn't that hard to put things where they go as opposed to just laying them down and then dealing with them later (or so I've been told!). There is a productivity principle called "Touch it Once" (seriously...I looked it up to verify!) that states that we increase our productivity when we consciously only touch something once.  Things were going great!  The dishes were making it to the dishwasher, the mail and other stuff was making it to the office/bedroom and the other places it belonged.  The kitchen table was staying cleared off because things were NOT getting placed on it each afternoon.  There really was peace and an absence of chaos and clutter...and there was more time to do things that matter.  BUT THEN...instead of putting the mail in the office...I set it on the kitchen table (enter Compromise...and please understand...the office is literally 10 steps from the kitchen table!) and then the next thing I noticed was a table completely covered with STUFF (and I was adding stuff to it every day) and it was quickly becoming overwhelming, chaotic, not intentional and not peaceful!  Now...at this point...I could easily have made an INTENTIONAL effort to pick up each thing and put it where it goes and restore order and peace and intentional living but instead...(enter Procrastination) I decided it could wait until another day because it already looked bad and was piling up so it could wait.  Why take care of it today when it will be there tomorrow?  See how the cycle starts?

I wish I could tell you that my kitchen table is the only example of compromise and procrastination that rears it's head in my life...but it's not!  I have photo evidence (and so does my husband) of many areas where ONE small compromise has lead to LARGE scale chaos!  The dishes in my sink, the clutter in my car, the clothes in my floor (I swear I am a teenager at heart!), the props closet at school, the weight I've gained, and the stacks on my desk.  I told you there were many areas! See, compromise starts with ONE small thing/decision.  One dish left in the sink, one coffee mug not taken out of the car at the end of the day, not hanging up what I put on in the morning and hated so I threw it in the floor, not completely putting the props away from a show after a busy weekend, not exercising today because I'll do it tomorrow, not documenting what I ate on My Fitness Pal for breakfast and lunch so why even consider logging dinner.  And in each of these areas...chaos is there due to procrastination and compromise.  The most frustrating part is that with each compromise...I was taking a step (whether big or small) toward and then onto the wheel of chaos.  And while spinning out of control I just want off.  And how do I get off? By INTENTIONALLY choosing to get off!  Taking small intentional steps to stop the chaos!

It all starts with ONE small thing!  Today, I am committed to being INTENTIONAL about the ONE small thing.  You see if I can conquer the one small thing...compromise and procrastination won't have a place to survive and therefore chaos will NOT take me for a ride!  And TODAY needs to be the day.