My new non-negotiable for the week is one that I’ve been doing pretty well at already. But, as I’ve found several times this week, when I don’t do it, I suffer the consequences. So I’m adding it as an official non-negotiable task.
I’m going to clean up the kitchen and run the dishwasher every night before I go to bed.
So what’s the big deal about making it a non-negotiable when I’ve been mostly doing it anyway?
I decided to make an actual chart. I’ve gotten to the point where I have a long enough list of tasks that I tend to forget some. I used Word to make a table with my tasks in the left column and the days of the week at the top of the following columns.
But, when I went to make the table and was putting in the number of columns, I automatically thought 6. You know, 5 days in the week and then a column for the tasks.
Seriously?????
Didn’t I just write a post yesterday about how I can’t take weekends off?????
Sometimes I amaze myself.
So I made 8 columns. One for EACH DAY OF THE WEEK, plus a column for the tasks.
I’ve resisted the chart thing so far, and honestly, I’m a little skeptical. I’m kind of a brat, and don’t like to be told what to do. A chart makes me feel like I’m being bossed around. Hopefully, since I MADE it myself, I won’t feel that way. We’ll see how it goes.
So this week’s non-negotiable became official when I added it to the chart. I knew that I needed to since it’s the thing I’ve been forgetting lately and that has thrown off the rhythm.
I’m also hoping that if I only mark the chart honestly (you know, not lie to myself), I’ll be able to visually see the gaps. That way if I conveniently forget to do my least favorite task of wiping down the bathrooms for more than one day, I’ll be more motivated to be sure I do it.
As for today, Sunday, I had the wonderful motivation of having home groups here tonight. Thankfully, since I’ve done the tasks pretty consistently for a week now, it didn’t take much work to get things looking good. Such a nice feeling.
Now to go do the evening tasks that will count for tomorrow’s list. I’m really not in the mood, but I have to remind myself that they will make a huge difference in how the week begins. I also have my handy-dandy chart to mark off.
Julia says
I’ve been traveling through time, reading your blog from the beginning, and I’m so excited to hear you eventually made a chart, because when I found your blog and decided to start my own de-slobification process it was the first thing I did. I’ve been marking what tasks I do each day for 5 weeks now. It definitely has less X’s than I would like, but the satisfaction of marking off every task on the list some days is a great motivator. I also read a couple days worth of your blog every once in awhile to get some motivation and just have a laugh at some of our shared slobbiness.
Tina Marie says
I have been impressed and genuinely admire that from the beginning you have had company come over even when the house is a work in progress. I have struggled for my whole adult life with having anyone over unless every little thing is practically perfect! Ya know, just in case they open, or someone accidentally leaves open, a door (there’s always at least one room that needs the door shut), a cupboard, a drawer, the shower curtain, etc……because that happens! The problem is that amount of catch up work is exhausting and I’m not good at keep it up in between guests because of said exhaustion and, as you’ve said, the little things suddenly become big things that need a complete reset before company comes over again. It’s a vicious cycle! I need to make a chart to hold myself accountable to keep the little things up. I love a clean organized house and I feel like once it’s cleaned up it should just magically stay that way, but it doesn’t without effort. I want to do so many other things with my efforts than be a real life Cinderella…. unless of course all the friendly neighborhood animals come to help if I start singing, but I’ve tried and surprisingly they don’t come!