Do it while the Doin' needs DonE

Earlier this week, I stood in my kitchen and stared at my sink full of dirty dishes waiting to be loaded into my dishwasher.

My thought process went something like this:

Productive Brain: The dishes need done

Lazy Brain: They don’t need done now.

PB: But they do – it’s a busy week, so I likely won’t have time to do it later. And the dish situation is only going to get worse if we don’t do something about it now. If we do it now, the sink will be empty and ready to accept new dirt.

LB: But I’m tired. I can just make another day extra productive very soon.

PB: Fine – but you better hope I don’t live to regret this!

-End Scene-

Later that evening, I was in bed reading a book called The Happiness Project. The piece I read that night was about how if a task can be done in a minute or less, go ahead and do it right then. I looked to my left, on my old, shabby nightstand, and saw the pile of crumpled papers. All they needed was to be placed in the garbage can literally 15 feet away, and yet there they were. They’ve been there for weeks. I also have to walk by said garbage can on my way out of the bedroom, which happens multiple times a day, so I could even throw them away without making any additional trips. And yet…

And yet…

There they sat.

The inner dialogue was something similar to the above. A not-so-epic battle between my productive brain and my lazy brain. I say not epic, because at least 90% of the time, my lazy brain wins. The odds are stacked in its favor.

This is the problem. The goal is to get the Productive Brain to win at least 90% of the time (nobody’s perfect – it’s okay to set goals that allow for a smidgen of wiggle room). But how many times do we actually do what needs to be done, especially when it needs it? And why is that, even when the task is simple, not time-consuming, and requires no additional effort than what I am already exerting during my day?

This same theme popped up again while reading my favorite beekeeping blog and thinking about productivity. I was reading about over-wintering bees, and the author’s best advice was to never procrastinate. Meaning, no excuses. No, “it’s too cold.” Or “It’s too late in the day.” If it needs done, do it.

Part of the problem is that the mere thought of “I’m going to do the dishes later”  or "I'll throw that away later," makes me feel as if I had actually done those tasks. The very art of talking about it is enough to satiate the motivation to do something.

Another part of the problem is that ole captain Lazy Brain has been winning for so long that it’s ingrained into my lifestyle. Patterns of cognitive thinking can create rather rigid thought patterns, much like a little trickle of water can become a river. Imagine trying to change the path of that trickle... rather easy, right? Now try and imagine changing the path of a river. Significantly more difficult. I think it’s similar with our thoughts. The longer we think in a specific thought pattern (lazy brain thinking) the harder it will be to change that negative thought pattern later.

That in NO WAY means we should give up the fight! We must remain ever vigilant!

I recently dealt my lazy patterns a blow when I got myself out of debt. It took a lot of time and discipline, but I was finally able to change my relationship with money, and corrected some poor spending habits. Then, more recently, when I learned that I could be harming my wonderful bees with my laziness, I dealt it another blow. I followed Rusty’s advice and started doing what needed done right then. Nothing would be worse than neglecting my girls. Clearly, however, the negative patterns are strong enough to keep living (Look at my night stand… just look at it!).

I am re-committing myself to doing a combo of the two pieces of sage advice that have presented themselves to me:

1. If it needs done, do it

2. If it takes less than a minute to do, do it right then

Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but I believe them both to be necessary for better productivity. Better productivity = greater happiness, cleaner household, and, ultimately, a more stress-free leisure time. If I can get the hang of those two things in all areas of my life, I imagine I’ll be the productive beast that I want to be.

I invite you to join me on this endeavor for the month of July, and let’s report back in August. I would love to hear your stories of pros and cons with this method, and any noticeable changes that may have occurred. Good luck!