Here it is 2pm, I NEED to do 2 chapters for nursing class due Tuesday night (it's Sunday we have time right?), but I really I mean seriously struggle with accomplishing something if my area around me is messy. I can't focus on those chapters, my mind is begging to zone into mental cleaning. Well with life (we all have hectic schedules) I have neglected the home to what feels like a severe extent. Yet here I sit watching America's next top model... i don't even like the show! I feel like in my head I've worked out the schedule to clean and wow that was a lot of work. So I say to myself "on commercials I'll start at the front door and work my way in", yet come a commercial I find something else to do... make a cup of coffee, feed the dogs, fill my water bottle, checking out the fun links I keep finding on here but can't watch TV and go through the site. I want to cry or scream or something, I WANT to clean, but it's so overwhelming and it sounds easy "well just turn off the TV, get up and do it" it's not that easy I can't do it, it's like there is a protective barrier not allowing me to, not to mention I for some reason right now feel like I need the activity in this show, not even music at this moment can focus me I need more activity in the noise (does that make sense?). Please say someone understands this feeling of playing out the action in your head and that task alone feeling has you feeling that that was enough, I honestly feel exhausted from playing out the task mentally. I know I need to start at the front door and work my way in (BTW cleanest spot of the home since it's always my first start), but I'm so overwhelmed knowing what is waiting in the kitchen, computer/learning desk and laundry room and I know I can't stay on task which makes it worse. Since I know I won't get it done. I know the order, I know how to grab just a pile or item at a time, learned a lot from my organizer that jump started the home, but I can't do.

So my question, any last resort ways you have found to tackle a MUST DO activity, when the motivation is just not there. I know I will be so much more productive if the house was cleaned. It doessn't help it's raining outside and the fact that southern california doesn't see enough rain in a year to fill a shot glass, it just has this amazing, comfy, I just need to cuddle under a blankie, feeling.

Yikes, I deal with that feeling all of the time. So much to be done, and it all needs to be done now, but I can't possibly accomplish it, and it's just not fair and I don't even want to deal with it.

You know - I just realized something the other day. When I really thought about it, 99% of the things that I do every day are things I'd "rather not". You know what I mean? Anything from packing orders to cooking dinner to grocery shopping, to the more horrid things like paying bills and washing dishes. Sometimes I just get fed up with it. It is truly a rat race.

Anyhow, not sure I can be much help. Basically I keep a list of all of these "urgent" things that must be done and, first of all try to prioritize. Something as big as cleaning the house, I've got to break down into do-able tasks: the bathroom, the dishes, the dusting, the vacuuming, my desk area, son's room, etc. All on the list. Now I have a list of smallish tasks to choose from, and I can always find something I can manage to pick one out and do it. Mind you, I'm never completely satisfied with what I've accomplished at the end of the day, but that's because I have impossible expectations of myself.

Also, cut yourself some slack if you're just feeling crappy, weather's got you down or whatever. Expect less of yourself on days like that - or I should say, ALLOW yourself to do less.

hello there, pitabearsmamma. Boy does that ever sound familiar. This is a problem I've struggled with for many years, and never really found a solution to it.

It sounds like there are two components to your problem -- number one, being able to look at what needs doing and do it, and number two, being able to make priorities. First you began by talking about doing two chapters of nursing -- then you got off into housework. I couldn't tell from your letter which one is more necessary, but frankly the nursing sounds more necessary, since "dust never sleeps". (When I was married, I used to blame the messiness of the house on my lazy husband. Then when we broke up and I began to live alone, I came to the realization that the house was just as messy whether he was there or not. If this was an Aesop's fable, there would be some sort of a moral now. You folks can work on that -- I never thought one up.)

One thing that might help with the nursing chapters would be to pick up the book, stand up and read the chapters out loud. Not in a boring tone of voice -- oh no! Use the goofiest, most Shakespearean or Looney Tunes tones of voices you can think of. You might even sing the chapters. Not only will this get you through the chapters, but it should beautifully entertain you, the kids, the dog, and probably the neighbors. A couple of repetitions might be needed, but those should be over long before the neighbors feel a need to phone the police.

Ducky

PBM,

Boy do I know the feeling! Sometimes it helps to tell myself I'm not really cleaning, just picking up a thing or two. Then I reinforce the internal monologue by starting somewhere other than the beginning--for you it's the front door, for me it's the sink full+ of dirty dishes. If the apartment isn't clean by the time I give up, it still feels more like an improvement than a failure since I hadn't promised myself much. On the other hand, sometimes I've gotten so "into it" that 6 hours later I'm sitting in the middle of the living room floor surrounded by the entire contents of a particularly unruly closet and feeling like I just don't have enough in the tank to put it all back. :-)

Good luck!

I have recently come to realize that if my space is messy (like it has been to some degree for most of my life) that I can't concentrate on anything I try to accomplish.

I work from home, so if the house is a mess, I can't settle down to do my work. If the house is tidy, I can settle.

For me, the aha! of realizing the connection, was very dramatic for me. Since that time, I make sure I keep up the place as I go along and life for me has been very calm and centered.

It was always so hard for me to motivate myself in the past, but now I am having an easier time. I know this is not really a solution for you, but I thought I'd share my situation with you.

Good luck! And don't be too hard on yourself. The weather does play a big part in motivaton.

It sounds like there are two components to your problem -- number one, being able to look at what needs doing and do it, and number two, being able to make priorities. First you began by talking about doing two chapters of nursing -- then you got off into housework.
One thing that might help with the nursing chapters would be to pick up the book, stand up and read the chapters out loud. Not in a boring tone of voice -- oh no! Use the goofiest, most Shakespearean or Looney Tunes tones of voices you can think of. You might even sing the chapters. Not only will this get you through the chapters, but it should beautifully entertain you, the kids, the dog, and probably the neighbors. A couple of repetitions might be needed, but those should be over long before the neighbors feel a need to phone the police.

LOL Ducky I could wub you, I never thought to put the silliness into the chapters. See this is what happens when you go back to school at 34, you forget how to study and make it fun. Of course the chapters are priority, but for some reason the knowledge deep in my head that the house is a mess is blocking the absorption of the material. I read and read, but in my head I'm thinking of how I really need to get the sugar mess that was spilled on the counter cleaned up but yet I can't clean the sugar since I need to start in the living room with the mess that awaits anyone who comes to my front door (you know the doorbell only rings when your home is so embarrassingly mess that you wouldn't admit to a solicitor that you live there). So I have managed a few clean up actions. I also think the fact that I have 3 teenage daughters who are boycotting visiting their father in my presence 24/7 doesn't help, not a silent moment in the home for studying on a weekend. Their last visit was Christmas and he came here. I'm gonna try and study in bed tonight, ugh of course there's no school tomorrow and the girls are having a sleep over so it may be a late night for me

Hi Pitabear -

I can relate very well also. I have been a nurse for more than 10 years - and I can relate to what you are going through. It reminds me of my problem that is quite similar. You can't study when it is cluttered around you - and I can't cook/make dinner if there are dirty dishes in the sink (or on the counter or table). Sometimes I have had to work around my particular problem (think ordering pizza). Other times I have simply tackled the dishes and kitchen clean-up (and then I make my family pay for making me do everything - lol). As for not being able to study, I would bet that is a behavior problem that you could probably nip in the bud - figure out why you feel that way. Perhaps you are beating yourself up about the clutter, and find yourself unable to relax enough to take time for yourself (though studying for a nursing test is the least form of "taking time for yourself" as you can get - I would rather be preparing for a root canal).

Try creating a space for you - that you keep clean - and that your girls can't use - that you can study in. It would be ideal if you had a desk in your room - then perhaps you could find time to clean up your room and have a safe haven in which to do your homework.

I can honestly say that often the only thing that would get me out of procrastinating was a deadline (I spent many a night typing up a paper due in the am). Do you already use a "To Do" list? If not, start trying that out. If you do, and find that you lose your list more often than not - get yourself an organizer/planner.

I wish you luck. Nursing is a great profession - PM me some time and I can share some of my stories with you.

At Heart