So why do I like cleaning the house when I’m supposed to be at work and stay late at work when I know that I need to go home and clean the house??? I realized today that as long as I’m doing what I’m NOT supposed to be doing at the moment, it’s fun and I like it. Otherwise, it’s like pulling teeth to make me do the right thing at the right time. I had to make a stop at home today during work. (I live near my office.) I have friends coming to visit tonight, so I started tidying up the place, which I have a hard time forcing myself to do usually, and I didn’t mind it at all. I stayed there way too long and got way more done than usual when I clean the house. But sometimes I annoy myself because I stay at work after hours (even when I could stop) when I should go home and clean the house. I’m such a procrastinator, about a lot of things. How do you make yourself do what you need to do, at the moment? Why do I procrastinate so much? I usually get it done, finally and at the last moment, but I would save myself a lot of trouble (and late fees) if I could just DO it on time. And right now, although I have a fair amount of work to do, all I can seem to do is surf the SDMB. I have been like this my whole life, I guess (not the goofing off at work part, but the rest), and have still managed to be reasonably successful, but I would like not to be this way, at least not so much… Any luck changing, anyone?
I am the Queen of Procrastination - and it’s an incredibly frustrating and stressful way of life!
I find it helps if I (a) remind myself how good it feels when I finish a task, (b) remind myself how awful it feels when I procrastinate, and how much stress it adds to my life, and (c) reward myself with some m&ms’s (I’m like a dog - very food-driven 
) or a chapter of a good book, or some time on the SDMB.
I don’t know why I procrastinate either, but I recognize that I don’t have a whole lot of self-discipline. I get stubborn and contrary and don’t like doing things when I’m *supposed * to do them. It’s like I feel better about doing stuff if it feels like it’s my *choice * to do so, not like I have to do so.
Good luck** tesseract** - I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this thread to see the advice of other Dopers …
S.
You might try to do something at home everyday because then it doesn’t all build up and become a super chore. Break the work down into managable tasks that don’t take to long when done individually. I do it that way and it does works for me.
I had to recheck the OP to make sure I hadn’t written it. That is me, exactly. I get incredible bursts of cleaning energy at entirely the wrong times, especially late at night when I need to be up early for work the next day. I have yet (at age 47) to find any strategies that work for more than a day or two. I live in hope that when the final child moves out, I will be more able to keep up with the housework because I will be the only mess-maker, but it is a faint hope. I know when I was married, it was easier when both of us worked on it together…but that was extremely rare. And I can’t count the times I’ve found myself still at work, slogging through some project, knowing full well that those extra hours could have been used better at home.
I have developed a few techniques that help, but conditions have to be just right, which makes them self-defeating. For example, I have discovered that if I play a certain Phil Collins CD fairly loud, it really gets me in the mood to clean, so much so that it is even labelled, “Cleaning Music”. But I can’t do it when anyone else is home (have the same problem with balancing my checkbook) or late at night (when the neighbors might get mad).
Oh shoot, nowI’m gonna be late for work!
A technique that sometimes works for me is to set a timer for ten minutes, or collect the materials I need, etc.; in other words, just start. Tell yourself you’re just going to do a certain amount, then you can stop. And when you reach that point, sometimes you feel you want to do more, which is great, if not, go ahead and stop. This works great if your problem is simple inertia, less so if your problem is depression.
I like to think I’ve taken procrastination to the next level, made it my own art form. Cleaning the house is definitely my most procrastinatory activity. I will do anything rather than wash the dishes, and I usually don’t think to vacuum until I’m ankle-deep in cat hair.
Gee, that really makes you want to come visit my house, doesn’t it?
Anyhow, over the last few years, I’ve discovered a system. My weeknights are usually spent pursuing leisure activities–after all, I worked all day, I deserve to sit on my butt and read or watch tv for the night. Come the weekend, it’s cleanin’ time, but who wants to spend their whole Sunday scrubbing their house? My method is like a reward system. I wake up on Sunday (usually around noonish, why get up early?), have my coffee, and make a list of my chores for the day. I break each chore down into it’s simplest, smallest form–not just vacuum, but vacuum living room, vacuum bedroom, etc. Then I set about my work for an hour or two. And the end of my time, I cross off those things on my list that I’ve taken care of. (This is where the smallest form of chore comes in handy–you get to cross off many more things.) Then, as my reward for accomplishing so many difficult tasks, I sit down, read a chapter of my book, or watch half an hour of my movie, or pursue whatever leisure activity I desire for a bit.
It actually works, if you can believe it. Everything I do, I reward myself for.
Thanks so much for the responses so far. It makes me feel better to hear that others suffer, too. All those ideas are good — I’m going to print out this thread and put it on my refrigerator. I am the queen of lists (even adding and then immediately crossing off tasks I accomplished but had not put on the list), and it does seem to help some. Please feel free to chime in, procrastinators of the SDMB…
Good advice. My problem is depression AND inertia (deprertia), and it works for me, sometimes.
Here’s a site you might like and/or find helpful:
It’s weird, but once I hit about 23-4, I started to get a lot better. In grad school, I could suddenly write papers more than 24 hours before they were due; something I couldn’t do in college. Maybe I just grew up a bit, I don’t know.
Lists are great. So is having more of a schedule than you think is a good idea. Weirdly, it’s very freeing, because you only have to do a certain amount, not the whole job, and you no longer have to think about what to do–you just do it and it’s done and forgotten. Also, go out and get all the stuff you need (like pens and cleaners and stuff) and things to put the stuff in. So put pens in a penholder in all the places you need pens, and keep Comet under both sinks. That way, you don’t have to go find everything you need just to get started.
For the past 18 months or so, I’ve been working on becomng more organized at home (OK, I’m a SAHM, so that’s most of my job). FlyLady did help me work out a schedule for housecleaning, which is great. I like doing most of it on weekdays, so my weekends are free. I have specific jobs for each day, and once I finish them, I’m free! Here’s what I do, just in case anyone cares:
Monday (I have energy and want to tackle the weekend mess): Change sheets and towels, dust, clean glass, tidy in general, vacuum.
Tuesday: Mop floors (half the house, but only has to be done every two weeks)
Wednesday: Kitchen stuff
Thursday: Grocery shopping and bathrooms–try to get it all done by noon, so can relax and have a reward
Friday: Tidy up counters, clean out car, pay bills
I do most stuff on Mon/Thurs., so I can work up the energy and enthusiasm between times. I do reward myself. I tell myself to just get it over with and then I can relax with a clear conscience. By no means am I an organized housewizard; I’m still something of a slob. But I’m a lot better, and the schedule really helps far more than I ever thought it would.
Oh, and I’ve found a household notebook to be great, too. Here are some printables I use.