5 Ways to Trick Your Brain into Thinking You’re Not Cleaning Your House

Especially when you really, really, really don’t want to!

It’s finally naptime. You have one hour of free time and one part of your brain is screaming, “Use this time to clean the house!” Another part of your brain is saying, “but we just bought chocolate chips and we can have cookies.” Then a third side of your brain is hinting that you really need to finish that book chapter.

It’s like your mind is warring against yourself.

You know that you need to get things done, but you don’t want to.

This is an especially potent argument if you are…

• Pregnant
• Sick, but not sick enough to be in bed
• Physically exhausted
• Struggling with PPD or depression
• Simply don’t want to do it

It’s all about getting started.

Once you’ve started, your body usually settles into a regular rhythm, and that intense “I don’t want to do it!” feeling goes down dramatically.

After you’re up and moving, your brain will go, “Ooooh, A Project! Let’s finish it!” and you will be motivated to get it done.

5 Ways to Trick Your Brain

1. Play a game

Number rooms 1–5 in your house (example: 1 = kitchen…). Roll a dice or pick a number out of a hat or something. Whatever number you pick, you have to do five things in that room.

Tip: Make it quick. This should only take about a minute or two in each room. It will keep your attention span that way and trick your brain into thinking you’re just doing something kind of fun.

2. Pick up one thing in every room

Use the same idea from before and put a number on five rooms in the house (Or three. Whatever you want.). Pick up one thing in every room, starting with #1 and ending with #5.

This should take less than 5 seconds in each room.

Tell yourself that you are going to make five cycles through all five rooms. That means you will end up picking up 25 things.

Tip: By the time you’re done doing five cycles, you will probably be distracted and already be cleaning something. Congratulations! You have tricked your brain into starting a cleaning project with almost no effort on your part.

3. Set a 30-second timer

Walk through each of the five rooms and pick the #1 chore that needs to be done in each one. Then go back to Room #1, get your timer, and do a 30-second sprint in each one.

You will only be working on that one chore. Don’t get distracted and add in a bunch of other stuff!

Tip: You may be thinking, “I hate timers with a passion.” Great! This will be a good one for you, then. Once you start, you will get so annoyed with the timer that after about the third time of it going off, you will stop setting it and just keep cleaning.

4. Reward yourself

This is a dangerous one! When I think of rewarding myself, I think of Watermelon Sour Patch candies or Recess’ peanut butter cups. Don’t fall into the trap! You could easily eat the entire bag if you use candy for this.

Pair this one with #2, Pick Up One Thing in Every Room.

Here’s what your thought process will be:

After I’ve done one thing in all five rooms, I can have a piece of ____ (reward).

Tip: Cut up fruit, use sugar-free whipped cream with mini chocolate chips mixed in, the toddler’s yogurt puffs…or get some kind of snack that’s halfway healthy, but will still be enticing enough to keep you wanting more.

5. One minute on, one minute off

This one is a combination of #3 (30-second timer) and #4 (reward yourself).

Choose only one room for this job. If you had only time to do one chore today, which one is the first priority?

Set a timer for one minute. Work like crazy for one minute, then reset the timer. Read your book or color your Mandala or whatever activity stimulates a high on your reward meter.

Tip: This one takes a huge amount of self-control because you have to be able to get up after the timer goes off and go back to cleaning.

I suggest when you’re doing your reward time, remain standing up.

When I first started this type of system, I thought:

“This is going to waste time because I’m not cleaning the entire time.”

This would be true if you were doing it every single day for every single chore. It’s a system that works best, remember, when you’re feeling sick or lethargic or you just don’t want to get started.

Also, you only end up doing it for about 5 minutes in the beginning, because you (like me!) have a short attention span and will completely forget about it once you start a cleaning project.

What your future looks like with this system:

12pm: Lunch time with the kids

1pm: Nap time! Here’s your opportunity!

1:05–1:10 pm: Start #2, Pick One Thing Up in Every Room. You’re thinking, “this is kind of fun, I’m not actually cleaning”. Once you hit Room #4 you see that the dresser is super dusty.

You start dusting, forget completely about the 5-Room-Thing-You-Were-Doing, and start into the project. Then after you finish dusting, you see that the kitchen still has dishes undone. Etc etc etc.

1:30 pm: You look up and realize that you have cleaned for 25 minutes and you’re not even whining about it. You shrug and keep going.

What your future looks like without this system:

12pm: Lunch time with the kids

1pm: Nap time! Here’s your opportunity!

1:05–1:10 pm: You motivate yourself negatively by saying, “You are such a whiner. Get up and work. Stop being lazy.” Then you continue to whine bitterly as you do laundry. Then your back hurts. Then you remember that you forgot to eat that last Kit-Kat. Then you think, “Oh, my Kindle Unlimited subscription ends tomorrow and I have to read the end of that book!”

1:30 pm: You look up and realize that you have wasted 20 minutes eating Kit-Kats, ice cream, and reading books on the couch. You have no motivation to change your behavior and decide that since the baby will wake up soon, it doesn’t matter anyway.

It’s worth it to give up some spare time and actually get started. If you try to force yourself into it (with the mood you’re in), you will give up within 2 minutes because you didn’t want to do it in the first place.

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