I just remembered one of my favorite tricks for making myself do things I don't want to do. It's a magical trick.
Just time yourself.
It works on three levels.
1. You are motivated to do the thing to find out how long it takes you to do it.
2. You are motivated to stay on task so that you have an accurate time.
3. You can tell yourself next time-but it only takes blah blah minutes!
I learned this trick when we moved here and I didn't want to vacuum. I timed myself and discovered it really only took 12 minutes to do all the vacuuming. (Obviously I'm not super thorough). I still tell myself that when it's time to vacuum. (But really, now it's Anna's job-ha ha!)
I remembered this trick the other night when I wanted strawberries and yogurt for dessert but didn't want to cut them up. Do you know how long it takes to cut up a pint of strawberries? 3 minutes! Shocking! I should never have trouble doing that again.
What's your favorite trick?
(Anna does not buy this trick one bit. I'm hoping some of your tricks are more her style.)
2 comments:
I know. Sometimes when I clean the entire house, I realize it didn't take nearly as much time as I perceived it would take.
I also have been wearing a pedometer and trying to get 10,000 steps in a day. That motivates me to get up and do more just to get my steps in for the day.
I sometimes set the timer for 15 min. to pick up the living room, or try to wash a certain minute's worth of dishes. Maybe I should use this for other cleaning things--I'm sure I bellyache about it longer than it actually takes! Haven't thought about my pedometer for awhile either, I should pull that out and use it!
Tips for kids...I'm pretty sure they see right through everything I try. Really, bribes and punishment are what I resort to. I really, really need to just be consistent with their chores, and I think that would help immensely.
Post a Comment