Wanted to follow up on the previous post about goals and daily living with some thoughts on all or nothing thinking. This is also called black and white thinking, and it is The Enemy. See, all or nothing thinking says that if you can’t achieve every bit of your goal, you’ve done nothing. Not true. Some progress is much better than none.

I didn’t write as many pages as I wanted to this week, but I wrote. I didn’t work out as often as I wanted to, but I did work out. The house isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot more organized and I threw a bunch of junk away and will be making a donation drop-off. Progress.

And to tie this into earth hour (reminder: turn your lights off between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. tonight!) I think a lot of people give up on environmental efforts because it seems too big. All or nothing thinking says if you can’t solve the whole problem, why bother?

But there are lots of ways to make changes and make progress. Use environmentally friendly household products. (In Washington, this is now mandatory; prepare for your state to follow.) Recycle. (Again, mandatory in some areas, but you can choose to participate in voluntary programs. It only takes a little extra effort.) Compost if you can. Use energy efficient appliances, turn off and unplug electronics not in use, use a clothesline in nice weather if your neighborhood allows. Buy local and organic foods when you can. Bike, share a ride, use public transportation. Adopting even one environmentally friendly habit has impact. Add more as you can, and the effort adds up.