365 Items: Day #1

"I'm doing it." I'm endeavoring to get rid of one item per day, every day for the next 365 days. Sounds easy enough, but after five minutes of perusing the before-and-after photos of other participants' progress, I'm feeling rather...wimpy. The jobs these women are tackling in a day would take me a good week.

But the point is, setting a realistic goal. For me, tossing out one significant item per day is achievable. It's so achievable, in fact, it really requires very little effort at all to take the first step and grab something to throw away. Therein lies the mind-trick: You take that step, and suddenly, you realize, "Hey, look where I am. I stepped. Am I really at Point B??" You're actually moving, and that's called "Momentum". And if you just flow with it, your momentum rolls on, and before you know it, you're at Point Z and your overflowing file cabinet has lost 75 pounds in an hour and a half! It's a miracle!

But it's really not. It's a mind-trick, maybe even an extremely subtle form of (irony) denial. It works for me, and if self-delusion is the only means to an organized end, I'll take it.