Cleaning sucks. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling something, and that something is most likely cleaning-related. So it’s no surprise that most people have some trouble getting motivated to clean. Here’s some help.
- The longer you wait, the more work you’ll have to do later.
- The internet isn’t going anywhere. You can still waste hours on Facebook and Tumblr after you’ve put in 20 minutes of cleaning. Give your eyes a rest.
- You’ll feel like such a rockstar once it’s done.
- If you give yourself clear and attainable goals (20 minutes, one shelf, put 15 things away, etc.), you won’t have the feeling that you aren’t “done.”
- Awesome music makes everything a little easier.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be better.
- When you’re in the middle of cleaning, sometimes it doesn’t feel like you’ve done anything. Take pictures before and after so you can see what you’ve actually accomplished.
- You’ll almost definitely feel a little better, calmer, and more positive if you can make some improvement in even one small area.
- Doing anything is always better than doing nothing.
You’re reading about motivation because you want someone to tell you something you already know: that you really should be doing something else (the laundry, packing, cleaning the bathroom, washing the dishes, etc.). Are you waiting for a sign? This is your sign:
Go do it.
Got it? Good.
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One reply on “Ask UfYH: The UfYH Guide to Motivation”
It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be better.
Along those lines, I have bastardized my grandmother’s favorite perfectionism-ism, from “If you’re going to do it half-assed, don’t do it at all!” to the more accurate and infinitely more encouraging “Half-assed is better than no-assed.”
Because it is.