The Simple, Doable Secret of Anti-Procrastinators
The January Cure is an Apartment Therapy tradition, helping you clean and declutter your home for the year ahead. We’re in the final week, but it’s never too late to sign up and join. Or you can begin your own journey any time with The Eight-Step Home Cure book.
You know those people who always have kitchen counters without stacks of dishes on top? The type of people who decide, on a whim of a weekend, to finally paint the kitchen, but they actually get to the walls above the cabinets, rather than leaving it taped up but unpainted for, like, three years? The people who declutter a closet without leaving bags of donated clothes in their hallway for a month?
Those people are anti-procrastinators. And you can channel their “get it finished” energy with one simple thing: A calendar reminder.
The trick to getting it all done is knowing that nobody ever gets it all done. That’s why you should give yourself a little grace and schedule a “catch up” day once a month to finish up all your unfinished home projects. Whatever it is: cleaning, decluttering, painting, maintenance—there’s always a “need to do” that doesn’t get done. Or a task that took up more of your weekend than you expected.
Your catch-up day is a catch-all. One day a month that you keep free from other commitments, just so you can make up for lost time when it comes to caring for your home.
Apartment Therapy Daily
Your daily dose of our top posts, tips & tricks, house tours, before & after transformations, shopping guides, and more.
Today’s Assignment: Take a catch-up day.
There’s no real Cure assignment for today. We’ve left a blank space for you to fill in by completing the circle on whatever you’ve been slacking on or putting off. You name it!
That might mean catching up on a missed Cure assignment, putting the finishing touches on your project, hanging the art you had framed, or doing whatever else needs doing around the house—whether that’s Cure-related or not.
Even if you don’t finish your catch-up to-do list today, give yourself some grace. You’re working hard to make your home the best it can be, and that’s impressive and impactful in any amount. The Cure isn’t about perfection, it’s about progress. You’ll get to finishing everything your home needs, little by little. Especially if you schedule this lost time into your regular monthly routine.
Go ahead and put another catch-up day on the calendar for February and keep this smart habit up all year long.
We’re in the home stretch! Here are a few ways to participate in the Cure:
- Sign up for email updates
- Visit the 2020 January Cure Page and catch up on assignments
- Download and save or print the January Cure calendar
- Share your progress on Instagram: #thejanuarycure
- Join the conversation in The Apartment Therapist Facebook group
- The Cure doesn’t just happen in January. If you want to take your efforts to the next level, any time of year, pick up a copy of Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure book.