6 Principles of Getting Shit Done: What Do You Need to Finish The Job?
Chapter 16
This post is a chapter of the book It Ain’t Gonna Lick Itself: Creating and Maintaining Living Spaces That Make Your Life Better (In Spite Of Everything) by Hanne Blank Boyd.
Click here for the full table of contents.
Once you have an actionable goal you can assess what you are going to need to finish the job. This means
setting aside the time
making sure you have good access to the space
providing yourself with the right supplies
You can only meet your goal if you have all three.
Blocking off the time is the fastest and easiest thing on this list. You know how to block off time. So get your calendar, whatever digital or paper form it may take, and get to blockin’.
Access to the space is second easiest. Can you get to the place where you intend to do the task? Usually, if we’re talking about our own living space, the answer is yes. Sometimes, though, access is not straightforward even in our own living spaces. In my current house, one of the access hatches to the attic space is in my office, directly over my desk and file cabinet. If I wanted to get up into that part of the attic for some reason, I’d have to move my desk and the file cabinet beforehand.
In another house I lived in years ago, there was a weird closet that a previous owner had built into an odd bit of spare space, and as a result the floor inside the closet was two feet higher than the floor outside the closet. In order to use all the shelves built into the closet you not only had to hoist yourself up into the closet but also bring a stepladder with you if you wanted to get to the topmost shelves. I’ve certainly been in houses where there were closets or shelves that could only be accessed if you moved furniture first, or piles of stuff. So it might be necessary to sort out an access issue in order to be able to do what you need to do.
Access issues may also come up with regard to the capacity of your specific body. Not everyone has the same range of motion or the same ability to reach or bend. Grip strength can limit what objects you’re going to be able to manipulate or how. Maybe you’ll need to have someone around who can help. Maybe you would benefit from an assistive device.
I love assistive devices and recommend them highly. Simple ones are great: I like to extend my reach with a pair of kitchen tongs when I need to get things out of the backs of cupboards. My arms are only so long and grabbing things is what tongs are for.
More complex ones are great too: I generally clean my clothes in a washing machine, which qualifies as an assistive device because it assists me in washing the clothes that I’d be exhausted from washing if I had to launder them all by hand. Literally every labor-saving device and appliance is an assistive device because they make it physically easier to do something. Assistive devices are wonderful things and I believe everyone should have the ones they find useful and that make doing house tasks more accessible to them. At my house we even have a little robot that vacuums the floors. I love it a whole bunch.
