Have an upcoming task you don’t like? Try to see if you can make it more fun. By being playful around it for example. A classic form of this is a tidying up contest between kids. Most children don’t like tidying up. But turning it into a contest often works wonders, even when it’s the same task.
Adults don’t respond as well to contest, especially not perfectionists. They are in an eternal contest with themselves, a contest they can’t really win. Which, of course, takes the fun out of it. The self criticism that is involved, makes it even worse.
So how to bring more fun in serious tasks, boring tasks, task that tend to invite self criticism…? For me, making things more playful works. As a child, I wore my mothers high heels when I had to hoover. It really made vacuum cleaning more fun. Walking on high heels that were way too big for me made the task a challenge, instead of 100% boring. And of course, I felt a bit of glamour being in my mums most special shoes…
As an adult, one thing I still fall for is to make things more colourful and spontaneous. My to do lists are less irksome when I write them as mind maps, or with coloured pens, or differently coloured post it notes – or turn them into a raffle. My marketing gets more fun when I can create something. A picture (my recent vouchers). A blog post. Getting to know a Facebook feature I don’t understand yet.
I have some boring tasks waiting for me today. Will I make all of them more fun? No, not when I get them done without the extra effort. But if I find myself procrastinating on:
– making a doctor’s appointment
– arranging new health insurance
– renewing my driver’s license
I’ll try to find a way to make them more fun. If that doesn’t work, I know I’ve written this post so I’ll feel accountability…
My playful act for today was to create a Facebook offer (a feature I don’t understand yet). In January you can get 50% discount on personal support when working on my course, From do it Later to do it Now in 10 days. For 5 euro a day you’ll get personal support to make sure you get the daily tasks done, and extra tips when you send in your worksheets. E-mail me if you’d like this offer but you don’t use Facebook.
Stop procrastinating now! 