Oddly enough I learned this lesson when remodeling a house we owned in Knoxville.
Sometimes you notice something that potentially needs to be fixed BUT, in reality, it only needs fixing because you’re so micro focused on it at the moment.
Sometimes it’s best to give it space & time and then reconsider if you actually need to fix it.
Let me give you an example.
We were installing Doors & Trim on our home. I was going around and caulking all the cracks, mudding & sanding the nails holes, coming back over and painting the trim again and then touching up the wall paint where it meets the trim.
I’m hunched over, trying to take my time and do a good job so that it looks nice.
I’m zoned in, really paying attention. I can notice when the brush strokes get a little too proud and come a little outside of the line I’m trying to keep.
I start to think to myself, I need to do it again. This is going to look terrible. I need fix this line.
It doesn’t matter that this specific line is in the corner of a room where no one will ever see it… and “a little too proud” is literally just a small blip that would pass most anyone’s expectation of a “good job”.
It’s like I have a 10x zoom on and keep this mountain of a blip… but then I stand up and have a hard time remembering where exactly this monolithic eye sore is actually located.
After hitting this same type of pattern a few times, I started to learn that I should just write it down on a to do list, put a date beside it and then consider doing it if it really still bugs me a month from now.
- Note to self on 10/16/24 – Consider repainting that trim line in November if it still bugs me
For me, breaking that infinite loop in my head and letting those type of non-urgent, nit-picky items not continue to bug me was a To Do list.
Funny enough… I am not sure I have ever revisited something like the above once I mentally put it on the “revisit” list.
- What’s the thing around your home that you know is of no consequence, but it is taking up some mental space?
- What’s that pet peeve about a colleague that you want to so badly send them a rant, but you know it’s petty?
- What’s the thing your kid keeps doing that annoys you but it’s just them being unique?
Try it out.
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