Things To Consider Today

Sloppiness And Slothfulness Don't Pay  

People like to be happy and enjoy life. They want to obtain good things in the best, easiest, and quickest way. As they strive to do what they want and get what they seek, they should be vigilant and not let into their lives things that work against what they’re trying to achieve. This brings us to the topics of sloppiness and slothfulness.

Family members and friends consider me to be a very neat and organized person. However, even this is not enough at times. I have several bookshelves filled with books and a few file cabinets full of files on various topics. There are also lots of folders and files on two computers. Periodically I try to find something and can’t find it right away. It may take twenty minutes, or I may not remember where it is until several hours later. I hate this! It is frustrating, and a waste of time too. Usually, the cause of my unhappiness is I didn’t make a logical choice of where to put something originally so I could find it later, or I didn’t put it back where it belonged the last time I used it. Either way, I use up time.

Do you find that it’s easy to misplace things so you can’t find them later? How much time do you spend looking for things? What is the cause of this in your life?

A related example is keeping a neat and organized home. Items are picked up off the floor and not left out when not in use. Things are not allowed to pile up or accumulate over time. Similar things are put together so it’s always easy to find what you want to use. Everything has a place. When you’re done using something, you put it back where it belongs. This saves time and avoids frustration. If you change where something goes, you make a mental note of this so you can find it again. The layout of your home and all the places you put things is like the streets in a city. As you drive them, you soon learn your way around and don’t need a map any longer. In a similar fashion, you should know your home too and be able to find everything right away. It’s easy to do this if your home is neat and organized.

How organized is your house or garage or office? Do you keep things neat and clean? Is there a place for everything? Do you keep any lists or records to assist you?

Let’s now consider the two words in the title of this article. It’s easy for any of us to become sloppy. As sloppiness creeps into our lives, we become untidy, careless, and even do things in a slipshod manner. Related to sloppiness is slothfulness. Slothful implies being lazy or indolent. An indolent person tends to avoid exertion. He is inactive.

Do you judge yourself to be sloppy, untidy, or careless? Will you do things in a slipshod manner at times? Are you lazy? Do you avoid exertion? Is your life an active or inactive one?

Both sloppiness and slothfulness inhibit you, slow you down, block your progress, and take away your freedom. They waste your resources like time and energy, and at times money. You don’t really want this, right?

I challenge you to take stock of your life. Do you see any signs of sloppiness or slothfulness in it? These could show up at home or at work. They can invade your mental world and physical world. They can lead you to be careless in what you think or say. They can limit what you do or accomplish. Through them optimism becomes pessimism. Negative attitudes develop. Poor habits and ways of doing things become accepted. Sloppiness and slothfulness contribute to poor diets and not enough exercise for the body. They lead to inadequate financial records or a lack of legal paperwork. Ultimately, sloppiness and slothfulness become like heavy weights dragging behind you when you try to move forward. As a result, you make less progress in your endeavors.

Decide today to remove any sloppiness and slothfulness from your life, wherever either of these may be found. Do not tolerate them to the least degree. Otherwise, they will always work against you in small, but significant ways over time. May you be successful in this effort so you can truly have the good life that you seek and deserve.

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Copyright  2008     Leland Pulley