By Lisa 
The lazy gene is in all of us. The one that immediately says “I don’t want to, I’ll do it later” or “someone else will do it”. Problem is, stuff doesn’t magically get done and no one else is doing it for you–and if they are, they are resenting you for not doing it.
Most of the time, the chore is something small. Put more toilet paper on the holder, get the dishes out of the dishwasher, take out the trash, fold and put away the towels in the dryer. Just the everyday stuff that is a little annoying to do but takes about 30 seconds to 2 minutes to complete. So why is it so hard to get yourself to do them?
One reason is that chores, especially ones you will likely keep doing the rest of your life (eek!) are boring. There is very little newness in taking out the trash or putting up socks. So yeah, it isn’t a whole lot of fun so we put it off as long as we can.
Another reason is that humans seek pleasure, especially immediate pleasure, first. We tend to gravitate towards doing something that will give a quick reward: a slouch on the couch to watch TV and have no demands, a bad-for-me snack that tastes good and soothing, or just a feeling of rebellion from doing anything ‘good’.
A third reason is that we like a reward for our efforts. A mundane chore that has to be repeated over and over doesn’t come with a finished product other than an orderly house, which is expected, not applauded. No Nobel Peace prizes here.
A fourth reason is that after a while, and because of all the reasons above, your mind conveniently overlooks small chores. We may not even ‘see’ what needs to be done until everything piles up and feels pretty overwhelming (ever spent all danged day Saturday doing chores you could have done throughout the week? Good times).
So doing chores is boring, not much fun, there is very little reward and you may start to ignore them–but you still have to get ‘er dun eventually. How can you get yourself motivated to take care of the small stuff before it becomes the big stuff???
- Don’t think, just do it and do it now. Don’t give yourself even a second to ponder what or when or how; just dig in and get started. One of the best ways to do this is to simply make a list of what needs to be done and set some times next to each chore. Obviously this isn’t going to work for changing the toilet paper roll but it can work for things like emptying the dishwasher, putting away clothes, taking out trash. Check off your list after each chore is done. Do the list first, then do your fun stuff.
- Make it fun (well, kind of). Put on some music, play a podcast, phone a friend. Do something that is pleasurable while you complete your chores and the time will go by much faster. Set a timer and see how fast you can get a chore done. Dance, sing, plan your vacation in your head. You get the idea.
- Most importantly, always say this phrase to yourself: “Do this for my Future Self”. Change the toilet paper now so you (in the future) won’t feel annoyed later. Take out the trash now so your future self won’t have to stuff more into the garbage and tear the trash bag. Fold the towels so you will have clean ones when you take a shower tomorrow morning.
The best part is, your precious Saturday will be freed up for fun stuff. Yah!