The “Can’t Be Bothered” Thread

We’ve all been there:
There’s something you really should be doing, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it—you’re lacking motivation, you simply don’t feel like it...

This is the place to grumble and complain when you have a task you really should be doing but absolutely don’t feel like doing. Maybe someone here even has a tip on how to get yourself motivated again. ;-)

I’ll start:
I’m supposed to be working on my new pattern, but I really don’t feel like it!

“Must”—I’ve crossed that word off my vocabulary.

I really don’t feel like breaking down what feels like 10,000 boxes or doing housework in general.

I really should crochet the last few rounds of my sweater so I can take the photos for the pattern and the product page, but right now I just can’t stand the sight of purple and really don’t feel like it at all. It’s probably only about 10 rounds, but I’d rather start something completely new. I’m just enjoying that much more right now. 

What’s going on? For about a week now, I haven’t felt like doing anything at all,

it’s a relief to know that others feel this way sometimes, too.

Hopefully this will stop soon; it’s really getting on my nerves. 

Vacuuming—yuck!

Luckily, my “can’t be bothered” phases are very rare and never last long, and when they do happen, I just lie down and sleep: I can always do that, and I’m always up for it :-D.

But there are a lot of things I generally don’t like to do, and to make sure they get done anyway, I’ve been using a trick since I was a kid: For the task I have to do but don’t want to, I find an activity I really, really want to do—but don’t actually have time for—and then I alternate between the two. For example, for every 10 minutes of the unwanted task, I get to spend 5 minutes doing something I enjoy. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be time-based; it could also be that for every room I vacuum, I get to read a page of a book, or for every piece of laundry I iron, I get to knit five rows. Especially when it comes to housework, I tend to have more trouble getting started than actually finishing the task. With this trick—that is, with the mindset that I don’t have to finish the task all at once, but can reward myself after completing a set portion—it’s much easier for me to get started, and I usually end up doing more in one go than I had planned.

Of course, for these little games, you also need to have patient roommates who aren’t bothered by half-finished tasks :-).

I really, really need to clean up the kitchen... My trick: I shut the kitchen door really tight and don’t look inside

I don’t have a kitchen door—or rather, it’s in the basement, since the kitchen would be even smaller if it had a door.

That aside, “closing the apartment door from the outside” would probably be the better option.
Assuming, of course, that the apartment would then renovate itself.

I really need to finally put together the new wardrobe I bought, but after all that endless kitchen furniture assembly, I just don’t feel like it anymore (even though I’m actually a total furniture-assembly junkie).
And I really SHOULD wake up the baby because we’re invited out soon, but the little cutie is sleeping so peacefully right here next to me <3

Best regards

I really should tidy up my study again ;-)

To do that, I need to finish those little stinkers—I don’t feel like it right now, but I’ll do it anyway because they’ve been rolling around for so long. Once I’ve done that, I’ll haul everything out to take pictures, and then I’ll reward myself with a clean study...... It might sound funny that the reward for finishing the work is a clean study, but the real reward comes after that:

I’ve decided I’m not allowed to start the new project until I’ve tidied up ;-)

For me, that’s called: defeating my inner slacker ^^

For me, Saturday is always “battle day”… Mowing the lawn, taking recyclables to the recycling center, going to the beverage store, doing a big grocery run, cooking dinner… and then taking a breather before moving on. I’d love to be crocheting right now. Generally speaking, I’d rather do just about anything than housework. Ironing is okay, but the rest is really annoying—especially cleaning and constantly tidying up after the kids. My ultimate motivation trick: put on wireless headphones and listen to an exciting audiobook while cleaning—it makes it so much easier!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone
Best wishes

Hi everyone!
I can totally relate to this. I’m supposed to write patterns, but I don’t really like doing it.
I’ve gotten into the habit of writing a bit here and there while I’m crafting, but that doesn’t help much either. I think the idea of doing something fun for 5 minutes, then doing something not-so-fun for a quarter of an hour is a good one.

Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Jana

I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way about these “mystical” tasks.
Mystical? Sure: “must-ical” — something I really should do again sometime... ;-)) 

Oh, how nice to find so many people who feel exactly the same way I do.
Housework—especially doing laundry, meaning folding and putting it away—is something I absolutely hate.
Sometimes I can force myself to do things because I know that afterward, I’ll have time to forget all about it while I’m crafting.
But generally speaking, I always say, “If it bothers you, please go ahead and clean it up yourself.”
But no one’s ever done that yet. :)

Housework isn’t exactly something I enjoy doing either, but there are always things that just make me so angry and frustrated, and then I take out my anger and frustration on the housework, and then I’m at it all day and everything is sparkling clean

Tax return—I hate it—but it has to be done—my motivation for that is my favorite drink; I only have it on that one weekend when I do my tax return, and then I can drink it :)

Whoa. All I’ll say is: 2nd quarter 2017 sales tax return PLUS 2016 income tax.
I. Just. Don’t. Feel. Like. It.
And I’ve been putting it off for weeks, always saying “tomorrow.” ;-)
(As for the apartment, I’ll just draw a veil of silence over that—my husband’s had sciatica for two months and can’t do a thing. Visitors just have to turn a blind eye.)

By the way, I still haven’t vacuumed. Tomorrow’s another day.

I just looked in the laundry baskets:

Right at the top of the  I HATE IT LIST is:
1. Dirty laundry! 

There are already 8 loads lying around again for my giant washing machine (8kg). Same thing every week, and I had planned to wash the curtains at some point - that’s getting postponed again ;-)

2.Cleaning up the workshop
And since I was already frustrated, I looked in the workshop. Another afternoon down the drain, because my men work in there but don’t clean up.

3.Bookkeeping
And luckily I’m not alone with the "I HATE MY BOOKKEEPING" attitude.

I love my job here, if only it weren’t for that stupid, idiotic bookkeeping. I’m putting it off again too, and in the end I’ll be sitting there forever doing it (which is probably also because I learned this stuff with handwritten forms and not with Excel )

If anyone has motivational suggestions for me about that, please speak up... oops, write^^

As for housework, I think I have the best husband ever.
He just pulls out the vacuum cleaner when it gets to be too much for him.
After 7 years, he’s realized he’s never going to turn me into a good housewife.... So he’s given up :-D

I had to really kick myself in the butt again today just to at least quickly put away the groceries and vacuum. My most hated chore, aside from brushing the cats (every day), is the never-ending pile of dirty laundry. I do 3–4 loads of laundry every day, but there’s no end in sight *sob*
Sometimes life as a housewife is really frustrating. You do the SAME thing EVERY day and know full well: Tomorrow it’ll look exactly the same!
That often demotivates me, but I reward myself in the afternoon or evening by crocheting, reading books, or—right now—working on concrete crafts in the garden.
Tomorrow, as a reward for weeding, I get to paint my concrete leaf-shaped bird baths.... I’m already looking forward to it

@Sabine, for tax returns and things like that, I have a trick: I talk myself into doing it for, say, 15 minutes every day, and then I’m allowed to stop. I find it easier to talk myself into doing something when the end is clearly defined.

@Nadeleule, how many people are you taking care of if you have to do 3–4 loads of laundry every day???

Dirty laundry—there’s always a bunch piling up here every day. Most of it, of course, is from the kids .............. and then there are the unusual items on top of that. My youngest is currently on a kick where he throws everything he can get his hands on that’s made of fabric into the bathtub (when he’s taking a bath), and it doesn’t matter if it’s clean laundry or dirty laundry........... Sometimes I don’t even know how high I’m supposed to stack it all so he can’t reach it ............ but he’ll learn eventually that he’s not supposed to do that......... It just takes him a little longer, and I need a whole lot of patience ...........

@Inna:
There are four of us. My son is responsible for most of the laundry. Ever since he started his apprenticeship, it feels like there’s more every day. My daughter sometimes even throws clean clothes into the laundry just so she can say they’ve been “put away.” On top of that, we have two Norwegian Forest Cats (long-haired and very fluffy), so the bathroom rug, for example, gets washed every two days, plus wool blankets, curtains, and so on quite often too.

I’m totally unmotivated today:

I don’t even feel like getting up off the couch to change out of my sweatpants and into a different pair of pants.
It’s even too much effort to go get my crochet hook and yarn—they’re just 2 meters away ;-)

And don’t even get me started on housework, right? 

@Krea_Tina
I’m having one of those “everything feels too far away” days, too. Even the coffee maker is waaaay too far away. *smile*
But that’s what Sundays are for—so you can just let things slide for a bit. ^^

@Nadeleule, poor you! There’s probably only one consolation—eventually the kids will grow up and move out :-).

I really don’t feel like ironing right now—it’s already hot enough as it is!—and the pile just keeps growing and growing.
Things I generally don’t find enjoyable: weaving in ends, sewing knitted or crocheted pieces together, and heaven forbid I have to embroider eyes or a mouth… 

@Christina 
Oh, I totally understand you ^^

@ Christina
Ironing is at the very top of my “don’t feel like it” list — in summer and winter alike, it’s the most annoying chore ever for me.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Second on the list is weeding; I just can’t seem to keep up with it, so now I tell myself it’s nice when everything turns green :)
Last but not least, there are certain doctor’s appointments that I hate but can’t ignore — so I’ve gotten into the habit of rewarding myself with something nice afterward, like a few flowers or, these days, some new yarn.

It’s totally understandable that you don’t feel like going to the doctor!
The dentist is even worse—especially when it comes to those back molars!

It’s done! (No, not my taxes—I’m still waiting for the tax elf to show up. I laid everything out for him and wrote down the computer password… let’s see what happens tomorrow ;-)) But I cleaned the apartment! And sorted the magazines! And it was absolutely no fun at all!
But the visitors from Thailand can come into the apartment tomorrow… phew *wipes sweat from forehead*

I wasn’t motivated at all today, but:

• The mountain of dirty laundry is half gone ;-) 

• Took photos and edited a quarter of them

• Uploaded a pattern
  
• Thank goodness I got the house in order - my mom suddenly showed up at the door^^^ 

I’m quite happy with that.

@roticanai;

This little helper: if it shows up and does a great job, please give it my address - it’s very welcome to come visit me ;-)

I’ll trade!
I’ll take care of the tax returns, but in exchange, someone here needs to clean the windows, wash out a big closet, put away the laundry, and clean the bathroom…
So, who’s up for a trade?!? ;)

I don’t mind doing my taxes, but if only someone could finally vacuum for once :-)

@Nina,....I

@Sabine:
Then come along with your papers ;)

@Ida:

Luckily, mine does that for me :)
He even vacuums the corners and under the sofa/bed/etc. properly...

Haha, yeah, my sweetheart gave me one of those once, knowing full well how much I hate vacuuming. I’m not entirely sure if the technology is fully developed yet, though. Sometimes it just stands there and refuses to go into certain corners. But it does handle the bulk of the work!

We used to have a little helper like that, too—unfortunately, it can’t manage the stairs, and it’s no match for the hair on the floor.
But we do have a hard-working robotic lawn mower in the garden that takes a lot of the work off our hands;)

Oh my, I can relate to so much of what you’re all saying. I don’t even know where to start.

First off, the things I really don’t like doing:

• ironing,
• folding laundry
• vacuuming and mopping the floor
• dusting, of course

But I already have the best solution in the world for that—uh... the best husband in the world. Because he takes care of exactly those things for me. :-)

Tidying up isn’t exactly my favorite thing to do either, but I have to do it myself—otherwise I won’t be able to find anything afterward.

Well, and bookkeeping is another one of those things I really don’t love. For the past few weeks, though, I’ve actually been managing to file my receipts neatly every week, and then I take them to the tax advisor every quarter. My trick is that whenever I pick up my bank statements, I get everything done right away.

As for sewing, that’s not one of my favorite activities either. But by now I’ve also gotten into the habit of taking care of it right away before I start something new. It’s been working pretty well so far.

My reward is then knitting, crocheting, and coming up with new ideas.

Oh, and one more tip for when you’re really feeling unmotivated: I just put on my favorite music and let it motivate me. Or I call a friend or meet up with her, and just like that, the lack of motivation is gone.

So, feel free to bring me your ironing. It’s a boring job, sure, but it’s a clean one that I enjoy doing in the evening while watching TV (or even without it). That’s often when ideas for new designs come to me. (You see, a little boredom sparks creativity.)

Oops! Half the text is gone!
Here’s how it continued:

In return, you can do the dirty work for me. Clean the bathroom and kitchen! I really hate that! And it has to be done every day!

Dear Ruth,
I’d be happy to come over! I have to do the kitchen and bathroom every day anyway, so I don’t mind that. It’s just the laundry that annoys me, but unfortunately that always has to be done.... 
It’s supposed to get hot today, which for me means getting the housework done quickly before the heat arrives — there’s no time for not feeling like it....
At lunchtime today, I’ll have to find some way to keep my daughter occupied, since she’s suffering from the same lack of motivation and has been lounging around all day. Let’s see what the day brings....

Good morning.
I have the day off today and I’ve made a firm resolution to do the housework.
I’ll start right away and make myself a cappuccino, then do the laundry, etc.

But I’ll probably do it the way that’s already been suggested here: 1 hour of cleaning, 20 minutes of crocheting, etc.

And tonight we’re having a barbecue.