If you’re anything like me, you have
days when you’re fired up to
clean
your whole house top to bottom and even reorganize your closets. Then,
on other days you are fascinated by
something you’ve recently
heard and
must research it on the internet, to the disappointment of your
laundry. Or you have a million errands to run and everything at home
gets neglected. Whatever the cause, suddenly you find your house looks
horrible and cleaning is the last thing you want to do.
Now somewhere in your mind, you really want to clean, you just have no
energy left to do it. This is usually my problem. I run out of energy
before I run out of errands. But I don’t want my husband
coming home
from work to a messy house. So whether I have the energy to clean or
not, I know I have to.
Of course, the best way to avoid all this is to stay on top of
everything so the house never gets messed up anyway. But despite my
best efforts to be vigilant, I’ll get a phone call or some
other thing
will come up, and when I emerge, the house looks horrible. This is
usually toward the afternoon. We have a great system in place for
cleaning in the morning. But with three kids at home all day long (a
homeschooled 3rd grader, a homeschooled kindergartener, and a toddler)
in a townhome on the smaller side, there is always something to do and
clean.
With that said, I’ve discovered some tricks for getting
things done when you have no energy left to do them.
1. Get Excited—The
fastest way to get energy for a project is to
get excited about it. Generic physical energy is helpful, but wanting
to do the task mentally makes the most difference by far. For a regular
person in average or better health, the body will supply you energy for
what your mind most wants to do, whether that’s cleaning the
bedrooms,
making banana muffins, or walking around the mall. The more excited we
get about something, the easier the task becomes.
Whenever I have a morning speaking engagement, getting up that day is
never a problem, even when its 5am. I’m excited about the day
and my
body follows my mind. On less exciting days, however, popping out of
bed isn’t always as easy. Reading a book on cleaning or
diligence is
usually a good source of motivation for me if I feel tired, but most of
the time I just have to do it whether I have energy or not. Which leads
us to number 2…
2. Do Boring Things—When
you feel overwhelmed or drained, do
what’s boring. It’s easy to get restless and lose
focus when the
project is not exciting. But my new motto is: Do Boring Things.
It’s
the boring things, like laundry, preparing fruits and vegetables,
organizing paper piles, that I most need to do, and I lose sight of
their needfulness because they are so boring.
When you’ve got a lot to do, instead of feeling overwhelmed,
just get
up and start working. When I have no motivation, I will purposely work
slowly, putting away what is easiest first. I think what sometimes
keeps me from getting started on tasks is that I want to do them
quickly and efficiently, and when I can’t because
I’m tired or I don’t
have vision at that moment, I hesistate to start the task at all. But
now I just tell myself, Do Boring Things. I start loading the
dishwasher or some other boring thing just to make progress. This
advice is most helpful to me when I feel overwhelmed and
don’t know
where to start. I don’t worry about a grand plan. I just
start doing
something.
3. Be Faithful in the
Little Things. Luke 16:10
“He who is
faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is
unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in
much.” The
context of this verse is how we handle our money. But the general
principle applies to all of life. Being faithful in the little things
is what makes you faithful for great things. Think of your favorite
pastor/ Bible teacher. If you found out he yelled at his wife every
night at home and watched inappropriate movies, would you lose a
significant amount or even all respect for him? I would too. If
he’s
not obeying God faithfully in his personal life, how can he be
faithfully obeying God in his public life?
I remember a story I heard a while back, told by a woman with a large
women’s ministry in her country. She said, “I get
asked by women all
the time, ‘How can I start my own ministry? I want to teach
the Bible?
Where do I start?’ And so I ask her, ‘How is your
marriage? Do you
submit to your husband in everything?’ I ask her about other
‘small’
areas of her life. ‘Do you pursue holiness? Do you love the
world or
the things of the world?’ And so often I have to tell her,
“Unless you
are faithful in the little things, you won’t be faithful in
what is
much.” Lead yourself first.
4. 15 Minute
Rotations… fun/work/fun/work.
Make a list of
to-do’s and put a mark each one either fun or work. Anything
you don’t
have to do would probably be considered fun. Then set the timer for 15
minutes and start on a work project. I usually break up the work
projects into rooms—kitchen, living room, bedroom 1, bedroom
2, all
bathrooms, etc. Every 15 minutes switch from working to playing. Things
on my playing list would be writing, reading, and stuff like that. If
you don’t have the motivation this second to clean, set the
time right
now for 15 minutes. When it beeps, start cleaning. In other 15 minutes
you get to rest/play again. And the cycle repeats. You now have 15
minutes to relax before you will get to work. Have fun!
