Do The Bigger Action

Look, I have shit to do. Always. I don't have days without a list of stuff that needs to get done. Ever. There are days when I choose not to do the things, but they're always staring me in the face screaming "DO ME!"

Yeah, I know how that sounded.

Anyway, the sheer number of things that I have to do to run a business and a house and a blog and a Twitter and other things makes me, well, forgetful. I am always multitasking, and sometimes I'm completely on autopilot. This means that I will do things and not remember if I did them. It's always little things like turning off the straightening iron or closing the garage, but I have had to drive home many, many times because I don't remember if I did them. Ninety nine percent of the time, I did complete them, but there is that one percent chance that my house is going to burn down because I left the straightening iron on after my husband has told me a thousand times to turn it off and he's going to be so pissed and he's going to be right about getting one with an automatic shut off instead of the one that I have that straightens my hair so well and FREAKOUT. 

Anyway, I had to find a solution to this because I got tired of going back and checking things all the time. It has gotten way, way better in the last several months because I have made a concerted effort to implement a new way of handling things that uses my very tactile nature. 

I call it "Doing The Bigger Action". It's not perfect, but it has reduced my anxiety and increased the lengeth of time that a tank of gas lasts because I'm not driving home so much. 

It's pretty simple. If there is a way to make something a short process instead of a quick movement, I do it the biggest way possible. For instance, instead of just turning off the straightener, I turn it off, unplug it, and wrap the cord up. It takes a little bit longer, but I have to focus on doing it, and therefore am more likely to remember it being done. When I lock the door when I leave the house, I ring the doorbell because that makes the dog bark. I remember the dog barking and know I locked the door. When locking my car in a parking lot, I hit the button 5 times because I will definitely hear the beep more than once and know it's locked. The things that I do take extra time, but it is so much less time than my neurotic checking used to take, that I come out ahead. 

And, you know, reducing the number of chances I have to burn the house down is always a plus (according to my husband). Meanwhile, I get to keep my beloved straightening iron that turns my frizzy mess into manageable prettiness. I cannot seem to make the husband understand that a good straightening iron is something to be cherished. You cannot just buy a new one. It's an irreplaceable relationship.

But that, my friends, is another post all together.

As always, it's hip to be square (and thorough!), kids.