Deadline has the Word Dead in it

As most of you know, my husband is a BOP (Born Organized Person). Opposites attract. We’ve recently been working on the launch of our new website www.cluborganized.com which is slated to be live on January 1, 2015. I originally gave myself a deadline of November 15^th to have it all finished. (Oh my, we SHEs are optimistic!) I’m sure that when my BOP husband heard the word deadline, he got all excited! (BOPs love a deadline so they can meet it and cross it off their list.)

This morning we had what I call a SHE-BOP clash! I was playing in my kitchen making chili when he came in and said, “It’s been a week since you said you’d have the text for the home page edited and you didn’t work on it this weekend, and now Christmas is looming and we’ll be pushing our launch into February, if we don’t get busy!”

I kept chopping a big juicy onion as I thought for a moment. First I couldn’t believe a whole week had passed and second I remembered what a wonderful week it had been! I put down the knife and with tears in my eyes (totally onion inflicted) and said, “Phooey on the deadline! What’s the rush?” It was quite dramatic if I do say so myself! “You hear the word deadline and it sticks with you like lint on Velcro,” I continued, wiping my eye with the back of my hand.

“Hey you’re the one who made the deadline. I’m just trying to help you meet it! How ‘bout if I do a spread sheet on when in the rest of this week you’ll be free to work on the website?”

“Okay,” I said with no enthusiasm.

(He was thrilled to have a deadline-motivated task.) He came back into the kitchen about fifteen minutes later as I was pouring hamburger, homemade tomato sauce and kidney beans into the crock pot. He had what was left of the week laid out with the color purple blocking all the time I would be doing all the other things I do, walking, napping, cooking, meditating, writing, reading, talking to friends on the phone and eating, plus a couple meetings and friends for dinner on Saturday.

“No wonder you’re not getting much work done! Look at all that purple!” When I looked at the sheet of paper, the first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, that purple represents my life and I love it!’

The bottom line is, my life seems to keep having her way with me and the deadline for the website keeps moving. I find it interesting that the word dead is in the word deadline, because deadlines sap the spontaneity right out of life. When I look back over the past four weeks or so, my life has been filled with joy and fun; all the purple stuff!

Since I love my purple life, I’m not willing to let any deadline loom over me. I will get the website launched when I get it launched. Phooey on a deadline!

We are heading into the most joyous time of the year and I hope you stay alert to the joy that’s in the air, so you won’t miss any of the purple.

Speaking of Joy. My latest book is all about  The Joy of Being Disorganized.

I would like you to have a chapter from it as a gift.