It is inconvenient and annoying that our past interferes with our present.

We want to change — or maybe we've already changed — and the results of our past decisions follow us around like Pigpen's dust cloud in the old Peanuts comics.

I'm talking about things like debt, clutter, old contracts that still have time on them, and things you said yes to but have not yet completed. It's the backlog of tasks, projects, and other obligations that you have accumulated.

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One of the hard parts about getting stuff done is figuring out the right stuff to do.

But once you've figured out the right stuff to do — or at least one thing in particular — the other hard part is doing it.

If you're struggling with the second part, here are some things that you might try.

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Nobody really wants to hear the boss gripe about pet peeves, but let me tell you the one thing that saps my life force faster than anything.

It's when I'm asked to weigh in on something that someone else could decide, especially if I've already asked that someone else to take care of it.

"I wasn't able to reach them. Would you like me to try again?"

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In my twenties, I lived in a crummy garden-style apartment. It didn't even have central air, which is unusual for Atlanta.

One Saturday, I woke up to about an inch of water in my closet. Apparently, the aging water heater had reached the end of its life. I immediately called the maintenance guy, Rex, and he came right out.

When Rex and I went downstairs to see if my downstairs neighbor, a young doctor, had experienced any water intrusion, we discovered that the answer was yes.

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When I was a kid, I would become deeply engrossed in an activity and only vaguely register that my mother was trying to get my attention to ask me to do what I considered to be an unpleasant chore.

When she left the room, I would not be able to recall what she had said; I'd be left with only the prickle of discomfort that had penetrated my youthful cocoon of self-centered fun-seeking.

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