Pre-Mob, Mobilization, De-Mob, etc.
Jul. 24th, 2014 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonesparkA thing I really hate about work in general and household organization in particular is the fact that the most important and critical parts of a task tend to
1. Happen before you get started on what looks and feels like actual work and/or
2. Not produce progress or results that are easily measurable/observed.
Case in point: I just got a replacement library card, so I reorganized my wallet. This will make things go much better, or at least much less badly, in many ways for months to come. But it doesn't look like I did anything. The dishes are still dirty, there are still crayons on the floor, and it's not going to make my mom feel better about the state of her living space.
My mom wants things to look neat. She also likes things to be organized, but she's totally capable of throwing stuff in a box to sort later. My dad and me...not so much. Containers are like black holes. The whole house is one big Invisible Corner, or at least all the parts we don't use every day. Make that the parts we don't have to use every day.
All times that are not Now are also black holes. There's Now and Later, and it's never Later, because it's always Now. But when something that was left for Later gets brought up, the crushing weight of negligence and shame make us want to do it Right Now Already, even if the urgency, or even the importance, of the task is low...
1. Happen before you get started on what looks and feels like actual work and/or
2. Not produce progress or results that are easily measurable/observed.
Case in point: I just got a replacement library card, so I reorganized my wallet. This will make things go much better, or at least much less badly, in many ways for months to come. But it doesn't look like I did anything. The dishes are still dirty, there are still crayons on the floor, and it's not going to make my mom feel better about the state of her living space.
My mom wants things to look neat. She also likes things to be organized, but she's totally capable of throwing stuff in a box to sort later. My dad and me...not so much. Containers are like black holes. The whole house is one big Invisible Corner, or at least all the parts we don't use every day. Make that the parts we don't have to use every day.
All times that are not Now are also black holes. There's Now and Later, and it's never Later, because it's always Now. But when something that was left for Later gets brought up, the crushing weight of negligence and shame make us want to do it Right Now Already, even if the urgency, or even the importance, of the task is low...
