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Vail Daily columnist Linda Stamper Boyne: This will be the year of getting it done

Linda Stamper Boyne
Vail, CO, Colorado

Have you noticed the magazine covers this month? New year, new you! Break your bad habits. Reduce your debt. Clear the clutter. Be happier. Reenergize your style. Lose weight faster. Find the right haircut. Workouts you can stick to.

The overriding message: Buying this magazine equals a better you. It’s January, the official do-over month, the annual fresh start, the perfect opportunity to re-create yourself.

Who couldn’t use a little freshening up at the start of the year? I stood in the grocery store aisle reading for a while, taking in all there was to learn, finding out how to do things better, how to be more efficient, how to make a better meal. And while I don’t feel like I need to make any drastic changes in my life to get it on track for the new year, the articles did get me thinking about what I could be doing better.



Nothing was really coming to me until I walked into the kitchen with my bags of groceries and it hit me. Literally. The grocery bag on my shoulder hit the giant stack on my desk of unopened mail, catalogs, articles to read, bills to be filed, blank permission slips, Christmas cards, books to be returned, school photos, receipts, coupons and who knows what else and it all came crashing down on my feet.

Ah ha! The tremendous pile of crapola on my desk. The things I put down to deal with later, and yet later never seems to come. That is what I could be doing better. Crapola management!

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I hate to label myself, but if forced to, I’d say I’ve had procrastionist tendencies in the past. I have been known to procrastinate. OK, darn it, I’ll just say it. I’m a straightforward, old-fashioned procrastinator. My motto: Why do today what can easily be put off until tomorrow.

I am the Queen of Setting It Aside To Do Later. And now my kingdom is fighting back. So it’s time for a royal decree: I shall, from this day forward, deal with things as they pass through my hands. If I can. When I have time.

No! I will not set things aside for later without determining when later is and sticking to it. I will make time for these things. I’m the queen, dang it. I can make time in my own kingdom.

With that resolved, I jumped in to sort, disseminate and deal with the enormous pile of crapola. Amongst the bills to file and things to toss, there were some delightful surprises.

I unearthed the lovely card my parents sent me when my sweet Elliott passed away. I discovered a stack of medical receipts I need to file to get reimbursed from my flex saving account. I found over $300 worth of gift cards, long forgotten on the stack. I’ve already made money from this royal decree! The queen is getting new shoes for the new year!

As I saw the surface of the desk appear, a wave of relief washed over me. This felt good. It occurred to me that this pile of crapola might actually be extended beyond the desk. I think the queen’s kingdom might actually be a little larger than she thought.

I looked around the house and saw things in a new light. While I’m a typically a neat and orderly person, there are areas where I just let things pile up, where projects sit undone and things remain unrepaired and unfinished.

I started making a list of these things and suddenly I was writing down items to accomplish that had nothing to do with the projects in front of me. I realized I have been figuratively setting things aside that I didn’t want to deal with, think about or admit.

“Later” has come, my friends. As my second royal decree, I officially declare this The Year of Getting It Done.

Linda Stamper Boyne of Edwards can be contacted through editor@vaildaily.com


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