Motivation

I had a bout of random housekeeping last night worth mentioning. I'm not sure what brought it on, other than the fact that they're threatening to replace our carpets soon. It's not a bad thing, just a hassle, but I figured it's the perfect opportunity to rearrange our furniture. Using a tape measure and a calculator (read: my husband's brain) I figured out that we can actually squeeze another bookshelf into our tiny apartment just by moving the desk to the bedroom.

So, somehow this translated to me cleaning like a madwoman until all hours last night. They haven't even started on our building yet, but I felt the pull of that eventual promise of having to move stuff like a werewolf feels the moon. (Can you tell I've been reading Mercy Thompson novels?)

My great challenge in getting things done (and in life at large) is figuring out what motivates me and how. Simply promising myself a treat after I do the dishes doesn't work, but knowing that I'm going to be moving furniture in a couple of weeks prompts me to finally throw out all that old packing material and bubble wrap I've been saving in our hall closet, as well as generally straightening up. (Being a horrendous pack rat doesn't help matters at all.) You can see the floor now!

I think that's a clue. Eventually we'll have to expose the entire floor, so I clean off the floor. Ice cream and dishes don't have much to do with each other, but wanting to bake something that requires counter space can give me the edge I need to get myself to wash the dishes. (Not very often, though. In fact, having a bowl of ice cream after I do the dishes means either there's at least one dish I will leave on the counter, spoiling the effect, or it demotivates me enough that I don't do the dishes.)

Motivation is a very important question for the Random Housekeeper. We tend to think too much to be really good at just mindlessly cleaning when it suits us. "If I put this skirt over the chair instead of hanging it up in the closet," we think collectively to ourselves, "I'll save enough energy to be able to go shopping later, where I'll buy another skirt to hang over the chair." You know what I mean. We're bargainers. We just have to learn how to make sure cleaning gets the upper hand. Sometimes. When we want it to.

Question for readers: What motivates you? How does knowing that change the way you do housecleaning (or anything else you don't like to do)?