The Laundry Cycle Mindset: Embracing Life’s Continuous Flow

Learn how adopting the Laundry Cycle Mindset can help you break free from the pressure of completing tasks and embrace life’s ongoing flow, reducing anxiety and fostering a sense of continuous progress.
Jan 26 / Erinn Rist

Recently I was listening to the Mel Robbins podcast and this conversation from episode 99 with therapist KC Davis blew my mind. I haven't stopped thinking about how it can apply to so many areas of life:

Mel: I'm probably not the only person that looks at a pile of laundry and I see it as evidence there's something wrong with me that I can't get the laundry done.​
KC Davis: We're used to going, is the laundry done or is it not done? Your laundry exists in a cycle. You have clothes that are clean in the closet. You have clothes that are on your body. You have clothes that are dirty on the floor. you have clothes that are dirty in the hamper...That's a cycle. It's ok for any of it to be in that cycle. You are not morally obligated to line up every care cycle in your home at the done state at the same time. The key is 'how do I learn to turn all of these cycles at a pace where it's functional?'

We often tend to perceive our lives in simplistic, black-and-white terms. It is how we make sense of our world and gauge progress quickly and efficiently. Here are some examples of how we may view parts of lives in this way:

  • Tasks are either finished or unfinished
  • Workouts are completed or missed
  • Habits as either successfully adhered to or neglected
  • Projects are either completed or pending
  • Meetings are either productive or unproductive
  • Relationships are either thriving or struggling
  • Goals are either achieved or unfulfilled

Consistently adopting this mindset can create pressure and anxiety, sometimes causing more harm than good. Linking our ability to achieve tasks to our success and self-worth is a common pitfall that happens to all of us. There have been numerous instances where I labeled a day as unsuccessful because one thing on my to-do list remained unfinished, overshadowing other accomplishments due to the unmet expectation of completing everything.

But what if we could shift our mindset, moving away from seeing our life through the static lens of "done/not done" to one where we exist within a continuous cycle, in a state of constant flow?

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Entrepreneur Sahil Bloom captured it perfectly:

"You will always have some things that are done, some things that are soon to be done, and some things that are waiting to be done. That flow is constant.
Author Oliver Burkeman once offered the advice to treat your "to-read pile" like a river rather than a bucket. In other words, it flows past, rather than building up. The build is what causes stress and anxiety, whereas the river flows with or without our influence."

Bringing it Home:

Life is a constant ebb and flow, defined by continuous changes. Instead of setting the expectation of completing everything, consider viewing certain aspects as an ongoing, fluid cycle rather than a fixed state — this mindset can lead to a more serene and fulfilling sense of progress. 


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