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Attrition
Very few know, use or
understand this word, and yet they are abiding by it every day of their life.
Attrition is the gradual decrease or reduction in the amount, number,
size or strength of anything you are dealing with.
Understanding this word and its concept is a very good way of
handling and tackling all those jobs you keep putting-off, due
to their complexly or monumental size.
We will take a simple example.
Cleaning and vacuuming is a simple task of attrition.
To clean an object, you need to go over it many, many times and each
time more dirt and grime will be removed.
The same with vacuuming,
By going over the same section of the floor many times, the dirt and
fluff will be removed.
That's why you have to make a decision whenever you tackle a job.
How much time are you going to spend?
A quick clean or vacuum will remove up to 85% of the dirt. Removing the
remainder will take 5 times longer.
It is worthwhile spending this amount of time to achieve a very small
improvement.
If the task is something you dread, the build-up of aversion can be
avoided by using the simple trick of attrition.
If the job is offensive (cleaning the toilet) daunting (removing 10
tones of rubbish from a hoarders home) or irksome (weeding the garden),
the solution is to tackle the job for 1 minute to 10 minutes -
then GO AWAY.
If you clean the toilet with 20 strokes of the brush, then go away, your
body does not have enough time to start to react and you avoid vomiting.
The same with cleaning the toilet floor or shower.
Get undressed, clean the floor or shower for 1 minute then get into the
shower and clean yourself.
You will instantly get rid of the smell and feel of the cleaning agents.
By doing this, the floor and shower will be clean in a month and you
won't remember carrying out the cleaning.
Attrition also works for many other jobs - such as gardening,
painting, vacuuming, washing etc.
The first thing to do is break the task into 3 small parts.
The first part is to get the tools ready for the job.
The second part is carrying out the job for 5 minutes then going away.
Continue with 5 - 7 minutes the next day and each future day until the job is
done.
Finally put the tools away.
Now we come to the act of HOARDING.
The first secret to preventing hoarding is to leave your money at home when you go
shopping.
Only take enough to buy the essentials.
Never buy knick-knacks, impulse items or anything that may come in handy
at a future date.
The second secret is to get rid of what you have on a constant, minimal
basis.
Make 2 piles for disposal. One for the opportunity shop and the other
for the garbage bin.
By filling the bin each week you will remove 2.5 ton of rubbish each
year and eventually the clutter will be gone.
You must set yourself a goal of 5 bags of rubbish each week and 5 bags
of garden clippings.
It may take a year or 5 years to eventually get rid of the rubbish, but
during this time you will prevent yourself increasing the hoarding and
feel you have conquered a devastating illness.
All these sorts of things can be attempted with the simple concept
of ATTRITION, where an enormous task can be tackled in small doses and
eventually you WIN.
That's how ants build ant-hills.
604 words
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