This resolution was introduced to me by my high school honors physics teacher, Saul Ploplys.

While most teachers took weeks or months to get graded papers passed back to us, Mr. Ploplys always always always had them ready for us the next day (and very frequently by the end of the class we turned them in at). He told us that his system was to only touch the papers once... When we turned them in, he'd do his best to grade them while we worked on our lab experiments. As soon as he finished grading it, he'd write the score in his gradebook, and pass them back to us before we left class.

He said that he knew himself well enough to know that the longer he kept the papers, the longer he'd forget about them or "lose them to the abyss."

I am a procastinator, a saver, and a lazy butt. My inbox in the kitchen tends to be overflowing with:
- things that should have already been taken care of (checks that need to be deposited, reminders to make vet appointments, receipts for returns I need to take care of)
- things I should have thrown out immediately (ads for grocery stores we don't shop at, an announcement for a new model train show exhibit)
- things I should have looked at and then thrown out within the day (pottery barn catalog, ad for grocery stores that we do shop at)
- things I should have filed away months ago (Leah's social security card, tax information for our property, Leah's ID bracelet from the hospital)

About once a month, I freak out because I either forgot to do something which Luke is now annoyed with me for not taken care of, I can't find something that I absolutely need at this second, or Reilly knocks all of the papers out of the to-do list onto the floor and into their water bowl which makes a huge mess of water all over the floor and soaks the important papers (okay this happens about every other day actually).

When any of the above happens, I become very unpleasant. I feel lazy & unproductive. I feel like I've let Luke down (especially since he is INCREDIBLE at doing things right away.) And my kitchen floor is soaked. Plus I'm always wondering if there's something really important in there that I've forgotten to do. And that lingering feeling of un-done ness makes me feel awful.

Had I thrown away the junk mail in the garbage in the garage as I walked in the door, taken care of that check deposit immediately, and filed Leah's cute little ID bracelet away immediately, I'd be able to feel like I accomplished something. There won't be anything to splash into the cats' water bowl and make me mad. And I'll be able to get things done right away for Luke, and then he won't have to think about those things anymore. And I KNOW that makes him happy.

So Joy Resolution #4 - Touch everything once. Get things done, and then get rid of them or file them away.

Thanks Mr. Ploplys. Sorry I was so unwilling to use math in your class. I know that irritated you. I still hate math.