I don’t want to put you in a bad mood, but let’s talk about what’s irritating you. Why? Because when things in your life irritate you, they take up space in your mind – negative space.
So…
What’s Irritating You?
When you walk through your home, what are the things that bother you? …And what can you do about it?
In fact, you probably don’t even have to walk through your home to make the list because it’s already stored in your head! So take a minute now to write out the list of the things irritating you. I’ll wait. =)
Why is it important to eradicate irritations?
For months, I put up with a kitchen faucet that could not be moved without extreme effort, and when it did move, it leaked.
One day, my wife finally had it and went to Home Depot, bought a new faucet and asked me to install it.
Now, I’m not the handiest person, but I managed to put it in…successfully! And if you had been there, I think you would have seen a wave of frustration wash off of us.
Armed with confidence, the next day my wife bought a kit to fix our toilet that had been occasionally leaking. And again, problem solved. No more soggy sock mornings after walking into another puddle. Irritation eradicated.
Now, we have other irritations on our list, but these were at the top, and once we removed them, the difference was amazing! We could stop complaining about the faucet in the kitchen, and we didn’t fear falling on a wet & slippery bathroom floor anymore.
We hadn’t realized it, but those two irritations were really taking up a lot of space in our minds; space that could have been used for more productive thoughts.
Who can help?
I mentioned that I’m not the handiest person, and I’m not. My wife was going to call a plumber to install the faucet, but I wanted to prove that I could handle the job, so I did it. I might have done a little complaining though, because she didn’t ask me to fix the toilet, just did it herself. =)
The point is – you don’t have to eradicate the irritations yourself. My coach and mentor, Jack Canfield, told us that he keeps a list of his household irritations and gives them to a handyman who comes by regularly to take care of it. I love that solution, and think it would be a step in the right direction for me.
What would work for you? If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you can always find information to help you accomplish whatever it is your tackling. If you aren’t, there are people you can call to help. Figure out what works for you and go for it!
What’s getting in the way?
I do love the idea of having a regular handyman come in and eradicate my household irritations. But I haven’t acted on this yet. Why? I guess I’m still hanging on to the satisfaction of doing things myself for now. And that’s OK.
But when I look at the time it takes me to do some of these projects (we won’t go into how long that faucet installation took) and how I could have spent that time elsewhere – like working on my business or hanging out with my family – then I realize it’s in my best interest to hire that handyman.
Still, this isn’t about me, it’s about you. What’s getting in your way? Is it the belief that you have to take care of everything yourself? Is it that you want things done a certain way (YOUR way) and nothing else is acceptable? Or maybe you like checking things off your list, but just can’t seem to find the time to get them done?
Whatever it is that’s getting in the way of getting the irritations out of the way, there is a solution.
Just get started…
I don’t know how big your list of irritations is, or how you plan to tackle it, but I do know that once you get started, you’ll get some momentum to keep going. That’s why we tackled a faucet & a toilet in one weekend. =)
So take a look at your list and decide on one irritation you will eradicate in the next week.
Now imagine that it is done.
Tell me, do you see a difference in your life just imagining the irritation is gone?
[Photo credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewk100/2188054198/]
