Move the Needle — daycare and development

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do less. live more.

Those of you who read the blog regularly know that I spend a lot of time driving. That gives me ample time to reflect and read (audiobooks) and listen to podcasts. Recently, I shared that I started listening to a new podcast from a former professional organizer in Cincinnati, Ohio. The podcast: Organize 365. The podcaster: Lisa Woodruff. The idea: Move the needle.

Driving along recently, I heard Woodruff say something that I, somehow, in that moment, really heard. She encouraged listeners to stop—at least for a little while—doing the things that only have to be redone again. Stop folding the laundry, stop checking the email, stop picking up the toys that the children will only throw down again, she encouraged. Instead, focus on something that will “move the needle.” Write that book, start that community garden, or finally clean out the garage.

Accomplishing such a task, of course, necessitates spending some time thinking about what brings you value or, as Woodruff asks her listeners, to think about why you want to be productive. If it’s to get everything done, you’ll never achieve it. If it’s to do more stuff, then why, and what stuff?

This concept isn’t rocket science, but in hearing it and then acting on it, I’ve tackled two projects that have been on my list for two-and-a-half years: sorting through years of my daughter’s artwork and painting our hallway. Between work and small children and the basic human need for sleep and food, both of these jobs seemed impossible to accomplish. Yet in the past few weeks, I stopped myself before emptying a dishwasher or sweeping a pollinated front porch, and instead spent the time doing something that would actually be DONE when I finished.

Research supports the notion that working mothers spend a disproportionate amount of time in routine care tasks (compared to their male partners). all over the world. Women are also more apt to take on the type of responsibilities that don’t move the needle, those tasks which, once done, simply need to be done again: making dinner, washing dishes, picking up toys. Pro Tip: Other research shows that the more educated a male spouse is, the more they help out with this kind of stuff. Here’s something we could learn from this: there is a lot of time available to accomplish things, if these “non-needle” tasks are pushed to the side from time to time.

It’s a small thing, to anyone but me, but I can’t tell you how good it feels to look in my daughter’s closet and see a file folder instead of boxes and stacks of papers. I can’t tell you how good it feels not to have to tell myself again, that I really need to get to that. Yes, painting a hallway is a little action in the vast scheme of things, but it’s really about eliminating the feeling I got every time I walked through our dark, dirty hallway with scratches, smudges, and drawing on the wall. That feeling is gone, which frees me up to concentrate on the bigger things.

I’ve been contemplating this same approach at work where, honestly, I feel I’m a little farther ahead with this skill. What are the tasks that always need doing, and therefore, can probably be done another time in the service of doing something more important today? What is going to move the needle? Should I check email again, or should I instead, work on a research article. Email will get checked, that article can be pushed off infinitely.

What moves the needle for you? In your home? In your work? In the trajectory of your life? In the world? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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