Productivity is one of the most elusive goals in my life it seems.

I want to make sure I am able to accomplish tasks and see productivity throughout my week, but it gets hard to make sure I stay busy at home.

At work, I have a list of articles to be written, events to be covered, pages to be made and so on, but my home does not come with an explicit list of chores with deadlines for each one.

Productivity takes diligence that I often find myself lacking.

Just talking about our upcoming paint project at home means I have to begin the dreaded job of decision making. I think that’s almost as tough as the actual work.

But it’s funny how productivity can be contagious.

Now that I can envision my walls looking exactly how I want them, it makes me want to ensure my clutter doesn’t bring down the room’s new potential.

So I’ve started trying to tackle the mess that can be hidden by organizational storage items and space utilization. That requires installing shelving and other storage accessories, which in turn means more work.

Not to mention I’ll have to look through the clutter to find a home for it in the new storage space or in the garbage- more decisions.

The up side of this productivity is that not only my whole home will look different, but I also get to browse IKEA for my much-needed storage help.

Since I’ve never been there, I’m really looking forward to the adventure, and of course I had to enlist a few of my favorite shopping buddies to make the trip to Atlanta.

Next will be the part that takes self-restraint- the IKEA shopping. It was much easier to save money when I was simply shopping for paint and supplies at Lowe’s.

After that comes the actual work. Decisions must still be made that I’m sure I haven’t even thought about yet. There will be heavy lifting, unexpected problems, sore backs and more, but we will have been productive.

Luckily, one of the best painters I know is helping us with our productivity.

Maybe after this project is complete, I’ll have less clutter to remind me that I need to be productive.

Joy Haynes is a staff writer for the Hartselle Enquirer.