My mother was not a very good housekeeper or cook, but she did pass on some interesting habits. A fine seamstress, she was attched to the care of fabrics, and one of her passions was that everything–even my brother’s underwear–should be ironed.. That was a lot of ironing for a family of four, especially when you had to sprinkle the clothes and heat the iron on the stove. (Eventually she was able to afford a steam iron.)

Facied with this perpetual task, she committed herself to ironing five pieces of ironing a day. She probably had a similar way of dealing with other repetitive tasks, but that is the one I remember. When she would visit my brother after he married and moved away with his wife who hated to iron, our mother would tackle the ironing basket and perhaps exceed her daily quota,

I carry that habit into my daily life, and it has served me well. Faced with readinga 500 page book, I assign myself 25 or more pages a day. I set a goal for how much to write in a day, or walk,. When I co-authored a book with my friend Fran on downsizing and decluttering, I picked up a similar household maanagement trick from her. set a task, any task.. Organizing the kitchen drawers. Cleaning the pantry shelves. Set the timer for fifteen minutes and keep working at the task until the timer dings. Whether it is five pieces or fifteen minutes, breaking down a very large challenge to a manageable series if pieces is a very helpful, very effective way of getting things done.

I was reminded of my mother and my friend Fran this week as I worked on sending postcards to voters in rural North Carolina, There were cards to address, add a stamp on the front and a sticker in the middle of the back, , writing the message in multiple colors of ink. It was a very tedious task for the 60 postcards I had taken as my share while recruiting friends to do the rest of our 200. I broke the task down to various parts–address, stamp and sticker, followed by writing theteext as instructed in various pen colors, one color at a time. First step was the address and stamp and Dear Mr/Ms blank on the other. Break. Later in the day , or the next day, same twenty cards with a line iin a the top iand another halfway down with blue pen. Third installment, perhaps in the evening, or the next day, 20 cards with a second line and a fifth line in red. Final installment, finish with the purple pen..

My mother’s way stuck with me through years of grading papers, writing textbooks, preparing letures. I would grade one question at a time on all the papers so they were each held to the same standard. And take a break in between. As I started my own home downsizing project 12 years ago, I was faced with 5000 slides in carousels to sort through. I did two carousels each night, until I had reduced the stash from 5000 to 1000, and could send the survivors off to be digitized.

Occasionallhy, I rebel. This spring I was watching The West Wing (I somehow missed it in its original airing), IObe eouside a day, That worked for the first six seasons,, but my the seventhseasn I started binge watching to see howw ended. The value of self-discilpline does have limitations !

Five pieces a day was one of the must useful lessons I learned from my mother. What useful habit did your mother install in you?

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