Do You Really Need a Timeline?

Moving into our house we had a timeline . . . One week to move, a week or two at the most to clean up the former owners things, have the basement finished, yes finished, by Thanksgiving, kitchen finished by late winter and so on until the house was "finished" by our one year move in anniversary. Well, here we are at day 357 and we still have a few of the former owner's possesions tucked away in nooks and crannies, we continue to unpack boxes and probably will be for some time, the basement is partially finished, the kitchen is finished minus flooring, backsplash, cabinet trim pieces, and replacement of the 60s era light fixtures (OK, basically the kitchen is "finished" from a DIY perspective) and our one year timeline as been extended SO many times we've lost track of it and could very likely be working without a timeline.

Timelines provide structure, a type of framework, that propel us forward while allowing its makers the opportunity to share their intentions, and hold us accountable to some extent. For some people, like me, they create discipline and occasional guilt. Timelines provide a sense of organization, which in my case channels my energy, preventing me from randomly going in circles accomplishing little. Ron is a global thinker. He can and does, move from one thing to another without guilt or frustration, but typically with a timeline in mind, however fluid that timeline may be. I joke and half-heartedly believe, that one magical day in our future every project the man has ever started will be finished simultaneously. You might think this a silly thought, but I've seen him start in the morning on one project in the garage and by the end of the day he has literally worked his way around the garage making forward progress on every thing.

The original timeline we created for our house was and continues to be a communication tool. For me to take this leap, I needed and still do need absolute confirmation that the house project would and will continue to move forward. Our ever changing timeline provides me a necessary sense of commitment. Ron needed and continues to need an avenue for sharing just how much time and energy he was and continues to be willing to put into the house, as well as way to convince me to make his dream of breathing life into an old house our dream.

Our timelines necessary? Absolutely! Do timelines need to be rigidly enforced? I guess it depends. For us, our timeline, now considered a straw-draft, is a necessary communication tool that keeps our shared house dream fueled.