“People who say that life is not worthwhile are really saying that
they themselves have no personal goals which are worthwhile. Get yourself a
goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project. Always have
something ahead of you to “look forward to“, to work for and hope for.”
(Maxwell Malz).
I don’t know
about all of you but I have noticed a very interesting phenomenon with me that
has a direct correlation to something that could help us in our work lives and
our home lives. It is this – when we plan-ahead to do something fun on an
upcoming Saturday, for example, I have noticed that we somehow find a way
during the week to get all of our normal “Saturday” chores done during the week
itself, laundry is done, bedrooms are cleaned, etc. – all before Saturday
comes.
Then when
Saturday arrives we are up bright and early ready to hit a day of fun together.
Now, contrast that when the opposite case exists. If we have nothing planned
for our Saturday then when Saturday morning arrives we all sleep in, wasting a
good portion of our day. Our chores are not handled and our laundry is sitting
around waiting to be done. Then we spend our Saturday handling things that we
feel would have been impossible to handle during the week. How is it that when
we have something exciting we want to be available for on the Saturday that we
magically find a way to get everything done during the week and we are
magically able to jump out of bed early Saturday morning all bright eyed and
bushy tailed and excited for our day? Not only that, but during the week we
found ourselves more driven and happy as we knocked everything out that had to
get done because we knew that by doing so we would make ourselves available for
the fun time on Saturday that we were looking forward to, so it didn’t even
feel that burdensome to get everything handled that week?
I have decided
that it was all about the motivation and inspiration that comes from being
excited about an upcoming event or activity that gave us the extra spark to get
more accomplished in more organized fashion. When we are excited about
something we look forward to it really helps to lighten our mood and helps to
shoulder the weight of the responsibilities that we carry. You see, the week
wasn’t easier or longer than normal, but we were more excited and enthusiastic
about accomplishing our tasks so we could have our reward that weekend.
When I look at
what I learned from this experience I realized that I could use this same magic
trick that gets us fired up and going to apply to my housework life. If I plan
something fun for myself or my family for the weekend then I am more motivated
to accomplish all of my work so I don’t have to do any emails or spreadsheets
over the weekend. And we don’t have to plan something expensive in any way,
just something that will be on our calendars for us to look forward to all
week. So I have desided to sit down every Sunday night and plan ahead for the
upcoming Saturday with some sort of fun activity that we can look forward to
during the week and that we can all use as a motivator to get our things done.
I think it is a good habit to get into and I would challenge everyone to try it
with their own families. Like I said, it can be any activity that will give you
something to be excited about. Maybe it’s just watching a movie that is coming
out that week, or going for a hike or a walk, or taking a road trip for the
day, etc. Anything that makes you feel excited and happy all week.
The weekend is
almost here! CHERISH IT! And when the weekend is over, plan
something in your life to look forward to for next week and then watch how
productive it makes you all week long!
