Positive Cascade

There is always some project or another to do. I’m a father and a homeowner, which pretty much means my To-Do list exists until the end of my life.

Every December, that list gets pretty backed up. The holidays demand my attention in other directions and the project list starts to jam. I’ve had unopened boxes and unfinished projects laying around for a while.

And then I was given an unexpected gift of a nice piece of furniture by a friend. It had to go somewhere, which meant something had to move. But in order for that to move, this had to get cleaned. And if I cleaned that, I’m already adjacent to assembling this, and once I assemble this I need somewhere to put it, so I’ll clear off that…

Before I knew it, the domino effect had knocked a half-dozen items off of my major project list. I’d had a positive cascade, each success invigorating me and making the next project both fun and – more importantly – obvious. An easy path emerged and all it took was some music and I ran it.

Sometimes all you need to get started is one thing you can’t ignore or postpone. One positive event can break through the logjam and start all the pieces moving again.