Getting it done!

Posted on by
The Face In The Mirror Acrylic on Canvas 24x30

The Face In The Mirror
Acrylic on Canvas
24×30

I worked hard yesterday. A quick trip to a new market with a girlfriend and then I was home to clean out the big room in the basement so that I could turn it into my art studio. It was already set up to be used that way but the rug was still on the floor, and intellectually, I was loath to drip paint onto the rug, even though we knew eventually we were going to replace.

It’s funny that. The power of an aversion to making a mess, and its capacity to hold me back.

IMG_4635

The cut up job!

Right now, all my art-making supplies are set up in a girlfriend’s basement. It’s a gift to have the space but… it’s not my space, my place. I don’t have the same freedom and comfort to come and go as I please at someone else’s house.

So, yesterday, the transformation began.

“We need to chainsaw it up,” I’d mentioned to C.C. on several occasions and while he agreed, we just never seemed to get around to it. Until Saturday when, in spite of the beautiful weather, I insisted that THIS was the weekend. Come blue skies or high water, we were going to do it.

With the TV gone on Saturday, and C.C. on the golf course yesterday, I took on the arduous task of ripping out the rug yesterday.

Getting There.

Getting There.

It’s done. Gone.

Last night, as C.C. and I were driving back from dinner with friends we talked about ‘the big job’.

There were so many times I wanted to quit, I told him. So many times I just wanted to sit down in the middle of the mess and say, “Forget it. It’s just too much work for one person.”

But, I didn’t. Quit.

My *Be. Do. Have. was to create a studio space I’d use. If I quit, it might not happen and I would not accomplish my goal.

So, instead of thinking about how hard or big the job was, I kept my focus on the task at hand. I kept my line of sight within the immediacy of what I was doing, right then, and avoided looking at the entirety of the job. Eventually, the entirety of the job became smaller than what I had left to do. Eventually, what I had left to do became a small portion of all that I’d accomplished until, there I was, proudly standing in the middle of the room, debris cleared out, the rolled up portions of rug carried off to the garage, the underlay stuffed into big orange garbage bags, the strips of wood and the floor swept up and all the garbage removed. Now all that remains is the sealing of the floor, some lights to hang and I will have a nice big spacious and bright studio area to create in.

Ready to be sealed!

Ready to be sealed!

And… bonus, the sense of accomplishment, the feeling of having persevered, of having gotten the job done, even on a perfect blue sky day will remain with me. I won’t carry a sense of regret of not having done it, I’ll carry with me the sense of having completed a task that wasn’t easy, that I wasn’t particularly excited about doing, that I did anyway because, my Be. Do. Have. was to create more of what I want in my life — and one of the ‘mores’ I want is my studio space!

The lesson? When faced with a daunting task, don’t look at it in its entirety. Keep your focus on the task at hand and keep your sights on the big picture of your Be. Do. Have.

*Be. Do. Have. – Be committed to Do what it takes to create more of what you want to Have in your life.

 

20 thoughts on “Getting it done!”

  2. I loved that you shared pictures! I can’t wait to follow you through your progress! Wonderful Art by the way!
    I have a fantasy studio in my head where I want to write. The problem is… in my head is a loft… We don’t have a two story! Wonder what that means! 😉

    Like

    Reply ↓

  5. Congrats — that’s a big job! I like the one step at a time idea – I’ve been using a version for some years. Having had health problems for a long time, my house has often gotten out of hand. Then when I look at the whole job I’m so daunted I put off starting. Several years ago I started looking at just a piece. I set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes, promising myself that I can stop as soon as it dings, I pick a corner or a section of a room and I just start. Sometimes I stop when the timer goes off, sometimes I keep going for a while longer. Occasionally I finish half or more in one go. If I spend that 10-15 minutes every day for a week, the room is clean. I’ve started using that idea in other places and it really helps me to break big jobs down into easy-to-contemplate pieces.

    Like

    Reply ↓

Real conversations begin with your comments. Please share your thoughts.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.