I don’t know about you, but I find that I’ve always got time for and interest in Andy and Barney.
Funny, though, the same can’t always be said for housework, writing, laundry, etc. Those of us who work from home (in my opinion) have a tougher time than most. Let’s face it, if we don’t feel like working, we simply don’t.
Cue the whistling and tell Andy and Opie to grab their fishing rods.
Of course, people get sick of work whether they work outside of the home or inside of it. Why? Well, most of the time work just isn’t fun… but unfortunately, it has to be done.
A problem most people run into when they don’t feel like working is they wait for the feeling to hit them. They mutter around, wondering, “Why don’t I feel like doing anything today?” or “What’s wrong with me?” Those of us who fancy ourselves writers may even resort to the famous self-diagnosis, “I have writers” block!”
Basically, we’re all saying pretty much the same thing, “This is not fun and I don’t want to do it!”
When we turn our attention away from “that which must be done” and point it toward ourselves, we’re actually causing more problems. In a way, we’re giving ourselves an out….
- “I’m overwhelmed… I guess I need a break.”
- “Actually I need another vacation.”
- “Heck, maybe I need another job.”
- “I’m so overwhelmed, I’m just going to call it a day.”
- “All this work CANNOT be good for my health.
- “Why’d I ever sign on for this?!”
If any of these sound familiar to you, congratulations, you’re human.
The key to getting work D-O-N-E when you don’t feel like D-O-I-N-G it is to.... are you ready for this??… simply DO something – with something being relevant to the task at hand, not watching Andy Griffith, playing Solitaire, or surfing the web. Unless of course someone’s paying you to do these things, in which case, you are my idol.
Truth be told, DOING SOMETHING is actually the answer to just about every problem known to mankind. Rarely does just sitting around, self-analyzing yourself accomplish anything of real value.
The next time you find yourself asking the questions above (you know, the ones with “out” written all over them), silence them with action. Just do something productive – getting something accomplished beats self paralysis by self analysis any day of the week.
My favorite trick for doing this is to simply devote 10 minutes at a whack.
Example: A few days ago, I was in one of those ruts we looked at above. Didn’t want to do any of the 20+ things on my to do list. I decided to take the first one on the list and promise 10 minutes to it. Anyone can promise 10 minutes to something, right? The great thing is, once you’ve started, you will finish even if you exceed the 10 minutes. After I began the task, within 20 minutes it was done and scratching it off of my list was almost as satisfying as a Chai Tea Latte.
Almost.
Take emotion out of the equation when your mind tells you that you “just don’t feel like” doing something that has to be done. When it says, “I don’t feel like doing this,” respond with, “Oh, that’ okay, you don’t have to feel like it to do it…”‘
Then set your timer for 10 minutes and get ‘er done.
~ Joi