Imperfect Situations

Somewhere in one of my favorite organizing books, some Famous and Expert Organizer said this:  "Never let an imperfect situation be an excuse to do nothing." 

I read that book probably ten years ago, and even today as I think about that quote, my first reaction is, "Wow.  That woman must be living in my head, because she is talking to me."  I say this because I am unfortunately very good at letting imperfect situations be excuses to do nothing.  In fact, we could call me the Queen Embracer of Imperfect Situations.  If we wanted to.

For example, this post itself.  Earlier this morning I was trying to post about all the fun things I found at yard sales this weekend, but could not (and still can not) get the pictures to upload.  So then my mind drifted over to wanting to write about the second interesting trip that our family took to Barcelona, but I realized once again that I haven't found a key photograph that I think is needed to truly tell that story well.  Then I debated whether I should just go ahead and tell the story anyway, sans photo, or perhaps try harder to find the photo that really would make the story better.  And then into my head popped this organizing quote (from the Famous Organizer that apparently lives in there) and I was reminded again how much I do this.

In fact, I can quickly and easily tell you several examples of this (at the risk of embarrassing self-disclosure):

1. I have been known in the past to not have the boys do the chores they should because I was waiting to make the perfect "Home Chore" chart.
2. I have a freshly-sewn curtain half for Jacob's room sitting right now on my ironing board that needs to be pressed.  The job will probably take five minutes, but I keep thinking, "No, I'll just wait until I have a stretch of time, perhaps turn on DIY and do this and the other ironing. (Multi-tasking by watching something interesting on TV is the best "perfect ironing situation"  that I can come up with.)  As a result, Jacob's window continues to be, at best, half-dressed.
3.  I have about seven mosaic pictures from the Bible Timeline Mosaic ready to be grouted by my new mosaic-grouting friend Estela.  However, one of the pictures has the wrong Bible chapter on it, and it needs to be fixed.  So, instead of giving the other six over to her, I am holding them all back until I can fix this one.  (Because the perfect situation is to hand them over all at once.) But I can't seem to get around to fixing it, so none of them are getting grouted.
4. I suppose that I am not fixing that one little number because it seems like it would be more efficient have the time to get several mosaic jobs done when I pull out the supplies, instead of pulling them out for just one little thing.
5. I almost didn't even write this post because I can't find the book with this specific quote in it.  I almost decided write it another time, after I found the book, so the quote would be properly attributed.

Ah, the shame of it all.  It just goes on and on.

So, today my advice to all of you (and to myself) is to "Just Do It Anyway".  Today I will iron the curtains, and fix the mosaic number.  And tomorrow I will tell about going to Barcelona for the second time.  Picture or no picture.