h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm sitting here bored. It's not that I don't have anything I could/should be doing, I just can't make myself interested in any of it. Some things I'm limited on how much I can do due to health issues. With others it's a case of lack of motivation. Here are some of the things I could/should be doing:

A pile of clothes needs mending/buttons sewn on.
Ironing (I can only stand for 5-10 minutes before my hips complain, which is why this has piled up)
Housework generally (MS fatigue is also an issue)
Reading - I have around 90 print books and over 200 ebooks unread
Needlework
Do some exercise

I know that a lot of the problem is psychological. I'm using health issues to justify not doing some things. With others its an inability to self-motivate.

Does anybody have any useful suggestions on what I can do to make myself get on with things?

Aaargh!

I hit the back button before I finished writing the post. Then, when I returned, I forgot to fill in the subject line. Looks like I need help in more ways than one.

I tend to listen to the radio while I do jobs I don't like. The trick is to find something so boring, it makes the job exciting. Cricket commentary is ideal

I have music on in the background while ironing or doing something mundane. I might put the TV on while I'm doing mending. That's not the problem. It's the self-motivation to get me doing things that I have trouble with. Some of the mending has been sitting there since before Christmas, the ironing just as long (it's clothes I don't wear much).

I try telling myself 'Just do it!' but it doesn't always work. In fact, it hardly ever works. Breaking jobs down into small chunks isn't always effective either.

I've tried reading books on changing habits, self-motivating, etc. None of them have had a lasting impact. Any ideas, please?

can you iron whilst sitting down? (as a person who's never ironed in their life, I don't know how possible this is) ; recently, I found, some tasks that would just knacker me, way more than they would normally; E.G., folding up clothes to put away, folding up towels, drying my hair with the hair dryer, after showering/bathing; after a while of fighting the fatigue, and lack of energy, and doing them, in the 'normal' way, I decided I was fighting a silly battle, and so, just something as simple as doing them whilst sitting down, on the edge of the bed, etc., ment I wasn't so screwed afterwards that I'd need to take time to recover, before doing anything else... - Wishing, TBH, I'd gone out and bought a really high, bar stool type chari, to use in teh kitchen, for the several months I was way too rubbish on my feet, to stand and prepare food for cooking... - insead I caved in, and just lived off junk food... which was probably such a bad idea, in retrospect

maybe exercise first, to get energy levels up a bit, might make the other tasks seem a bit more doo-able?

You don't actually *need* to iron everything. During the heady days of the 1990s when we all wore shell suits, we didn't iron much at all. I don't iron sheets, just shirts I need for work.

Settle for one small task. One single button. Folding one single t-shirt.

That feeling hits me all too often - lots to do, getting overwhelmed and discouraged by the whole thing, and I'm off procrastinating.

Sometimes, just doing one small thing encourages me to do one more, but if not, well then, I did one thing and that's better than no thing at all.

And never mind the whole pile of things. They're not running away.

Do what you feel like doing. If you are in the mood to do something, you will be more motivated and get it done quicker and better.

Writing a list where you can tick or cross things off can be a help.

Have a race with yourself to get something done in a certain amount of time. See how many seconds it takes to fold that single tee-shirt. See if you can do the next one better/quicker/to exactly the same size.

In this weather, however, I am totally lethargic and unmotivated,too. I didn't get anything done at the weekend before 6 pm. (It was reeeelly hot, here). I told myself that if I was awake early, as I often am, and have to go to the loo at about 4.30, that I should try doing some little, quiet jobs before the day heats up. I could catch up with rest/sleep in the heat of the afternoon. However, I had a beer, and slept through till gone 7 am this morning!

Thanks for the advice, everybody.

2legs, you can get perching stools. They're like bar stools, but the seat is angled. My father-in-law was given one by Social Services when he had cancer and we foolishly gave it back when he died. It would be really useful for when I'm preparing food. I could also use it when I'm ironing. Yes, you can do it sitting down if your ironing board is height-adjustable and will go low enough. The only issue is the item you're ironing dragging on the floor. I'd go out and buy one, but they're expensive.

Icy, the only things that get ironed are cotton or linen trousers and skirts. Hubby's shirts were easy care and didn't need ironing. I've never ironed a sheet in my life. Having said all that, I have at least six items waiting for somebody to iron them. It happens when it happens.

Milla, great advice about one small thing at a time. Sewing on a button won't take long and there's a couple of t-shirts with just a small hole to repair. I could get those out of the way and then psych myself up for the t-shirt with half the bottom hem unstitched and the beach pants that need the back seam mending. The t-shirt is the more important of the two - it was originally a present from me to hubby and he loves it. (If you see a picture on social media of a middle-aged man wearing a black t-shirt with a rib-cage on it, standing next to a younger woman, that man could be my hubby - the t-shirt didn't need mending back then. The woman is a total stranger.)

TC, having a race with myself isn't going to happen. I do things at the speed I can. If I can do anything at all I'm happy. The list idea is a good one. I might need to create a new one on a regular basis, be it daily or weekly. For example: Today I'm going to mend a t-shirt, exercise for a total of 30 minutes, put away 6 items in the proper place...

I surprised myself just before I posted this. Simply talking about my lack of self-motivation made me get up and do ten minutes of Freestep on my Wii-fit. I ended up out of breath and my hips ached a bit, but just that bit of activity made me a bit more motivated to do something else. Now, where did I put my needle and thread?

Please keep the advice coming. Lack of motivation is like any psychological problem, be it alcoholism, over-eating, OCD, whatever. First of all you have to admit there's a problem, then you have a long hard slog to overcome the problem. Thanks for helping me make a start.

BTW, the expensive item is the perching stool, not the height-adjustable ironing board.

And just for that, I'm going to go to the grocery store, which I have put off all day until now. Thanks for inspiring me right back!

Sometimes I bargain with myself. Just tidy the dining table, then you can sit down with that book and a coffee.

Other times I'll set myself a time limit - let's just see how much housework I can get out of the way in half an hour.

The best motivator I've found is adding something even worse to the list, something I'll do absolutely anything to avoid I got a chunk of decorating done recently purely as a way of avoiding the housework!

The trouble is the computer is always calling quietly in the background. Some days I do what I need on there then turn it off so it's more of a hassle to sit down and check emails or whatever.

Deb

Deb, if I want a really horrible job to avoid, I'll put 'Clean the bathroom ceiling' on the list. We have a mould problem and I'd have to get a ladder out to deal with it. I don't like heights at the best of times.

I know what you mean about the computer. It's a huge distraction and I try not to have it on for more than half the day. But there are things I need a computer for. I'm trying to write a novel, which I can't do 'by hand' - something else I need to motivate myself to do. It's harder than you think.

Exercise and housework are things I can only do in 10 minute chunks. I have a small kitchen timer which I have just set to 1 hour. I'm going to allow myself that much time to read / play games / whatever. Then I'm going to do some housework or exercise for about 10 minutes. Repeat as necessary, as they say on the shampoo bottle.

I'm sort of with Deb to a degree.

If I have a horrid job (that's pretty much everything that involves a duster, vacuum, cleaning, tidying or putting away then.....) I promise myself a reward after I've done it. It takes discipline though. Life can deteriorate into a series of rewards and no horrid jobs done otherwise. Want to see a photo of my pile of ironing?

And there is an old saying that goes something like, if you eat a frog for breakfast, the day can only get better. Do the worst jobs first.

Of course, if I took my own advice, I wouldn't be living in this pigsty

PP.

"A pile of clothes needs mending/buttons sewn on.
Ironing (I can only stand for 5-10 minutes before my hips complain, which is why this has piled up)
Housework generally (MS fatigue is also an issue)
Reading - I have around 90 print books and over 200 ebooks unread
Needlework
Do some exercise" [Cheerful Dragon]

Can you afford to replace the ones in the worst condition. If not, can you afford to do triage and bring two or three of the ones that wouldn't cost too much to repair to a local tailor or seamstress with affordable rates?

Ironing? Let's assume that you hips won't ever become less painful. Knowing that you only have 5 or 10 minutes at your disposal, you might want to prioritize and iron the few items that are most important to you. Of the others, there might be a few that you could afford to bring to a laundry. Looking into the future, you might decide on a gradual replacement plan in which the next purchases of this type of garment will be restricted to permanent press items, so that as time goes by you will need to do less and less ironing. I spent about six years gradually replacing all my ironable shirts with permanent press. I haven't needed to iron in years.

I can give you no advice about housework. I have a rule of thumb that if I need a shovel to clear a passageway along the hallways of my house, that's a sign that av lot of stuff ne4eds to be stuffed in garbage bags and thrown out.

I can help you with your reading program. Set aside a time every day or night [with me, it's the time from ten p.m. until midnight], and dedicate it to reading. If your attention span does not lend itself to reading long passages from any one book, limit yourself to, say, ten pages from each of a dozen books. You might think that this would confuse you about plot details, but I find instead that I remember *more* plot details because my attention has not started to wander yet when I reach the end of the ten pages.

I can't help you with needlework.

Exercise is easier to get when the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming. That should be right now. Could you persuade yourself that taking a nice fifteen to twenty-minute walk is for pleasure rather than exercise?

>>if I want a really horrible job to avoid, I'll put 'Clean the bathroom ceiling' on the list. We have a mould problem and I'd have to get a ladder out to deal with it. <<

CD - how do you handle the mould? I've got similar now in my bathroom and it's a high, pointy, ceiling so it's going to be a big job

paulh: The worst damage on the clothes is a hem on a t-shirt that has come unstitched and a torn seam on a pair of beach pants. I've suggested replacing the t-shirt, but hubby just wants it mended. It's not something I'd pay anybody to do, even if I could afford it. The beach pants cost less than £2 from a stall in Mumbai, so they're not worth replacing (something similar would cost 5 times as much over here). I like them, so I will repair them. Eventually.

I only iron items that need it. In fact, I often smile sweetly at hubby and ask him to do it. Again, it's not something I'd pay somebody to do, and I can't afford to pay somebody anyway.

I've decided to start as I mean to go on with housework. If the room I'm in has items out of place, I'll put at least one away before I leave the room. If anything belongs in another room, I'll take it with me when I go and put it where it belongs. I'll also continue with the '1 hour to myself, 10 minutes housework/exercise'. Little and often should get things sorted.

Reading isn't really a problem. The problem I had yesterday was that none of the books I'm currently reading appealed to me and I didn't want to start another. I currently have three print books and at least six ebooks on the go at the moment, ranging from War and Peace to one of the Discworld novels.

Regarding exercise, I used to go for walks every day. Unfortunately the number of pleasant walks in the area is limited and I got bored with doing the same route all the time.

Sho: How do we deal with the mould problem? Very occasionally! We've tried rubbing down the ceiling with bleach and we've tried mould remover. Even though we have the most powerful extractor fans we could get, the mould comes back. Part of the problem is that the ceiling was painted with matt paint. We're planning to repaint it with gloss or with paint that contains mould repellant. Another problem is that the grout on the floor and wall tiles could well be harbouring mould spores.

The bathroom never used to have this problem. It used to be the warmest room in the house. The hot water tank stood in a corner and the central heating pipes ran under the floor. When we had the house done up eight years ago we got rid of the hot water tank and replaced the boiler with a combi unit. As a result the central heating pipes no longer run under the floor. Even underfloor heating hasn't helped.

I use the 'just *one* little thing' method quite often. And the 'reward' trick. I'm currently getting Osh to put his own clean clothes away by challenging him to beat his previous time - this doesn't work with me but it does with him. It also demonstrates how little time it actually takes.

Also, every weekend I make a list, which I carry around with me, so if I catch myself thinking 'and now what shall I do?' I can look at the list and see if anything on it fits the bill. This stops me 'forgetting' to do things I don't want to do. About one weekend a year I manage to do everything on the list; most weekends I don't, but that's fine. I put stuff I know I *have* to do (like, laundry) on the list, as well as things I ought to do, and things I actually want to do. So I'm always able to tick off *something*.

Last weekend's list included looking through my late father-in-law's stamp albums. Just looking. I ended up filing all the unfiled first day covers as well but that was just a bonus. 'File first day covers' had been on the list for weeks, and in all that time I hadn't got round even to picking the albums up. But re-focusing the task ('re-branding' it I suppose) made it more appealing.

For a really big and horrible task that I know I'm not likely to finish in the time available (eg unpicking the mess somebody else has made with the Guide accounts, grouting the hearth tiles), I tell myself I will give it an hour and then at least I'm an hour nearer finishing it.

My mending tends to stack up, too - but DH needed his trousers fixing before he went to France at the end of May, and that deadline forced me to sit down and do all of it. But I did it in tiny steps - I assembled everything I knew I would need, and then took a break; sewed the easiest thing, and then took another break; sewed something else, went off and did something totally different for an hour; came back to it, more sewing, and so on.

I don't know if you could do this with the ironing? I mean set up the ironing board and everything, and then go away and not actually do it for an hour or so?

Hugs.

Mol

Mol, your first paragraph brought to mind something my mother kept telling me: Don't put it down, put it away. I tend to just dump the clean laundry on the bed instead of putting it in the drawer/wardrobe where it belongs. I must break this habit. The exception is hubby's clothes as I don't know where he keeps them. (Yes, really!)

I set myself a task this morning. For every item of clothing I put on, I had to put two things away. It isn't much, but it's a start and it only added a couple of minutes to my dressing time. If I put one item away in every room I go into, it will help to gradually clear the mess. Similarly, if I notice an item in the wrong room, I'll take it with me and put it away when I leave the room. Another thing Mum used to tell me: Never leave a room empty-handed - there's always something out of place.

I'll try your method of dealing with the mending, but I'm not sure it will work with the ironing. The clothes that need ironing are best done wet/damp, and they're all dry. I may have to give them a rinse in the washing machine before I tackle that job. In fact, I only wear the beach pants around the house, so they may not get ironed at all.