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Let's Get $h!t Done! * The lost art of doing things

Let's be honest...it's hard to get $h!t done sometimes. This is a subject I've written about before and one I'll probably write about it again someday. Especially around Christmas break, Thanksgiving, Easter coming up, whatever holiday has you planning, plotting, cooking, cleaning, etc., it's the worst time for actually getting $h!t done. 

I don't know what it is about this "downtime" but it sucks the ambition right out of you. And turns children into messy feral gremlins. Cute gremlins, but still messy and feral. 

Motivation doesn't come from an Instagram post, a Pinterest pin, or your friend Becky, who pretends to have her $h!t together on Facebook when you know good and well that Becky is full of $h!t because you saw her house last week on a surprise drop in... She only cleaned the corner she took the photo in, then labeled it "Blessed". Insert deep, intense eye roll here.

No. Motivation doesn't come from Becky. You need to find your own. And, honestly, it's as easy to find as a piece of paper and a pen...and coffee. This whole process is going to sound ridiculous, pointless, and too easy, but it really works. I promise! If it doesn't work for you? Well, you're $h!t out of luck and I'm very sorry.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW!

If you have a notebook lying around, even better. Having something to use day after day is very helpful and I'll get to that.

Once you figure out what you're going to write in, start with the date at the top. That's it. Easy so far, right?

Draw a line under the date and you're ready to start getting motivated.

What did you do right away this morning, after you poured your first cup of coffee? 

Did you load the dishwasher? If you did: write that down. After you sat on the couch for a bit, did you start a load of laundry? If so, write down laundry. If you swept the kitchen, log it. If you vacuumed, log it. If you put dishes away - log it. If you dried, folded, or put away the laundry - you get the idea.

If you wash more than one load of laundry, add a tally mark next to the word laundry. Same if you do more than one load of dishes. You can also tally baskets folded and put away. 

NOW STAY WITH ME HERE and I'll get to the point. Make sure you log EVERYTHING that you do outside of lounging. Anything that constitutes a "chore" in your mind, no matter how small it is. Keep logging.

Once you get four to five items written on your checklist, take a moment to look it over. Seriously. 

Those five little things on that list are five little things you did today that you didn't realize was $h!t you got done!

Now keep going! Log all those little chores, big chores, repeated chores, and so on. If a chore takes two hours - write two hours next to it.

You can even log cooking if you made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for your family. You can log "packed lunches" if you prepped your kids' or husband's sack lunches that day. 

Sometimes I even log shower. I know. That's not technically a chore, but it feels like a chore some days. Also, it helps me remember the last hair wash day. It's a female thing.

Things you can count in your "LIST OF $H!T I GOT DONE" log:

• Driving to town
• Grocery shopping
• Visiting a neighbor/friend/relative
• If someone visits you (I call these time logs)
• Taking animals out when needed
• Walking the dog
• Blogging
• Writing and number of pages written
• Crafts or your hobby
• Reading (log the time spent)
• Rearranging a space
• Repainting a room
• Building anything
• Lawncare
• Snowcare
• Scooping pet doo
• Gardening
• Watering flowers

And so on and so on. 

Trust me on this! By day three, you'll be amazed at how much you've actually accomplished, that you never would have considered accomplishments before, and your motivation to continue will appear!

Not only do I log my "daily dones", but I use it as a "what day did I do this thing" reminder. If I can't remember what day I picked weeds in the garden, I just refer back to the log and find out. I've filled many, many pages with this and it has helped immensely at getting $h!t done.

All you can do at this point is try it for yourself!

And if this is something you enjoy, you may find yourself picking out a fancy little journal at the store next trip to log your future $h!t in style! 

Now, when you are sitting on your couch enjoying a little relaxation time and the thought of not getting anything done crosses your mind - open up that little $h!t book and see what you've accomplished.

Seeing what you've done throughout the week, month, or even year makes you realize how little laziness there has been. 

ALSO, if you want a small self-esteem bonus: download a step counter app and keep your phone in your pocket as you get $h!t done. Every trip up and down the stairs, back and forth from the wash, into the kitchen, the kids' rooms, and around the yard, they all add up very quickly! 

This is like exercising by accident. It's glorious. I've gotten up to 8-10,000 steps just by getting $h!t done that I normally wouldn't have thought of as exercise. It's a nice bonus when you're no longer an exercising person...like me.

Last but not least: 

And I mean this: stick with pen and paper. Or pencil and paper. Whatever you do - log your $h!t by hand. There's something extra satisfying about writing down your little daily accomplishments. Logging them into a note-taker app or anything of the sort is just plain boring and you'll lose interest in it fast. 

So, pick out your logbook and put in the physical work of writing your $h!t down. 

Side note: 

If you are a Stay At Home Mom who gets a lot of grief for "doing nothing all day" from people that really do think that you "do nothing all day", pick up your logbook and throw it in their face.

 

Then write that down.