Love it or Hate it; Deadlines Work!

By startupprincess | Published August 26, 2008

At this moment I’m trying to escape housework (shh! don’t tell!) The truth be told, we are really kind of messy (3 kids, ages 2,4,8, and a husband who can make the biggest messes of them all!) and it can be overwhelming to keep up on the house chores at times. So how do we force ourselves to clean up? We purposely invite friends over a couple times a month, and self-inflict a day or so of cleaning madness so we can pretend we don’t live in chaos for a couple of hours and see what the couch looks like with all the throw pillows on and put away toys, etc. to reveal the color of the carpet. Once and awhile we cave and hire help as well, particularly when relatives are coming to stay… ideally I’d have help more often. I share this dirty little secret :) about my domestic side because sad to say it but if we didn’t have some sort of desire to impress others at least once and awhile and clean our house we’d likely end up like Shel Silverstein’s Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who would not take the garbage out and all her neighbors moved away. I’d hate to know what would happen if no one ever came to our house to play. I wish that we wanted to clean for cleaning’s sake, but we’re just too busy doing other projects that have a deadline, I suppose! Works well enough, we should invite people over everyday, then it would be an easier task. For us, the “reward” is having great times with friends and then enjoying the benefits of a clean house when they go too.

Time for your confession: Do you self-inflict a deadline for yourself with a consequence in life or business to make yourself do something you typically dread? What ideas do you have to share? How do you reward yourself?

Kelly King Anderson is the the author of this post, she is the Founder of Startup Princess.

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3 Responses to “Love it or Hate it; Deadlines Work!”

  1. Deborah, One Heart Bulgaria on August 26th, 2008 12:51 pm

    The other day I realize I do the same thing. If no one is coming over I just leave the house a mess. Oftentimes, however, people just drop by and then I’m REALLY embarassed at what a disaster the place is in. I do try to have a housekeeper come for 2 hours every other week just to do my bathrooms and floors. The clutter is what really gets to me though. It seems the walls are closing in on me with all the flip flops, stuffed animals, abandoned art projects, and miscellaneous pieces of wrappers and garbage all over the house. In general, I tend to put things off til the last minute and then work like mad to pull things off. This can be a stressful way to go since I have 5 kids running around with their own last minute things surfacing. This must be why I am usually late wherever I go. I have to say, however, my best speeches, presentations, and birthday parties are a result of last-minute madness! When I am preparing ahead of time and with the house, it all gets undone by the kids anyway.

  2. Michelle McCullough on August 27th, 2008 8:10 am

    What a fun post! I detest housework, especially since there are so many other things that I want to do! What I have had to learn to do with tackling my home AND other daunting tasks is set a timer. Sometimes when I think about cleaning up all the clutter I think “That will take FOREVER”, so I set a timer for 20 minutes. I work really hard for that 20 minutes, and it doesn’t overwhelm me because I know it’s a finite amount of time. I always come up with a reward, too. Like being able to watch a favortie TV show for 20 minutes, or reading a book for 20 minutes. When I have big projects I do this the whole day. Work for 20, play for 20. Another good tip, put on fun music you can sing too while you work. We love 80′s music in our house and I pump up the Chicago or the Michael Jackson and in four of five songs I’ve done some great work!

  3. Chantelle Stephens on September 10th, 2008 4:23 pm

    Why are all of you worrying your pretty little heads about yucky house work anyways, when there is a business out there like mine that is meant to help you balance your work life and home life. We take your everyday tasks that take up all your time and we get them done for you! I know it sounds crazy but I have become a personal concierge who is in need of my own services!!! LOL
    Visit http://www.zoomconcierge.com for more info
    Good luck to all you “momprenuers” and much success!
    Chantelle Stephens
    801.376.3000
    chantelle@zoomconcierge.com
    http://www.zoomconcierge.com

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