Be kind to your future self! 

This is a key mindset you can adopt to help increase the chances of getting your chores done.  Especially when you don’t feel like doing them.

Before I adopted this mindset the following scenario would play out regularly because let’s face it, we’re not always 100% motivated and we don’t always have access to super-strength willpower.

Sometimes it is all too easy to get behind on chores, especially in a household with children.  I would end up berating myself and becoming overwhelmed with my To-Do List. Next thing I knew my confidence would take a hit because I couldn’t keep up with my chores and when your confidence is low it is easy to continue berating yourself and blaming others.  All-in-all I’d be left with a much-less happy me.

Now, when I don’t feel like doing something, I simply say to myself “be kind to your future self”.  If I’m completely honest it doesn’t work 100% of the time, but 75% of the time it does!  Where it helps the most is not on big tasks that take a lot of time or much effort, but the small things.  For example, simply picking up the kids clothes off the floor as I walk past, or taking the rubbish out now, instead of tomorrow.  Getting these small things done, leads to less overwhelm and feeling more motivated to do the big stuff on the To-Do-List. 

It is easy to be under the illusion that by not doing a chore you are being kind to yourself by not making yourself do it now. Why do something you don’t feel like doing, that’s just mean, isn’t it?

Wrong! By making yourself do it now, you won’t have to deal with it in the future, which is being kind to your future self!!!

This has been a powerful and hugely helpful shift in mindset for me! I hope it resonates as powerfully with you as it did for me.