Cleared the Hanging Tasks, Got My Energy Back
Hung the pull-up bar, finally sorted the car for €916, cleaned out the closets, said goodbye to the €500-a-month coach — and for the first time in a long while I feel energy coming back.
By Georg Malahov
Two weeks ago I talked a plan into the journal: unplug from the outside noise, close out the small hanging tasks, and stop tearing myself apart. Today is August 1, and on the small stuff I can report back — almost everything is closed.
The pull-up bar had been hanging over me for months. Now it hangs where it belongs: I bought the one I wanted, mounted it in a good spot, the kids are happy and climbing all over it. That task is off my back.
The car is a longer story. Since late April I'd been putting it off, because I knew it would be expensive. That's exactly why I kept putting it off. In the end I waited until the TÜV deadline — the German vehicle inspection — and did everything in one go: the inspection, the wheels, the service. The repairs came to €916 — that stung. But the car is in order, and that one's closed too. I also tidied up the apartment and the closets, sorted out insurance for my father-in-law, bought the tickets for his trip to visit us. A pile of small things, each one trivial on its own.
The mechanics here are simple, and I've now felt them firsthand: a task you keep not doing formally isn't being done — but it lives on and drains you. A dozen tasks like that, and your energy is gone, even though you're not actually working on any of them. As soon as I closed them out, I felt noticeably better — in mood and in strength. There's still not enough money in the account, but I'm calmer than I was.
The career coach I contacted in July — I've made up my mind there too: I won't extend for another month. He did his core job and brought real value; I don't regret trying. But €500 a month for two sessions and a bit of Slack correspondence is more than I can carry financially right now. I'll come back to him when I reach the kind of questions where a consultant like that is needed again — or when €500 stops being an amount I notice.
And one more thing, maybe the main one: I've settled on a focus for the near term — chose which of my projects comes first right now, and stopped holding the others level with it. When you stop tearing yourself apart inside between different projects and plans, that by itself releases an enormous amount of energy — more than any closed-out list of small tasks.
Today the school holidays begin, and we're driving to Bremen to see friends — they're expecting a baby, and we want to meet before the birth. The kids' holidays only overlap for two weeks; let them have that time together. I'll work remotely for a few days and come back on Wednesday. I'm leaving with a clear head: the list of small tasks is empty.