Do you hate cleaning? These 6 tips will help you change your attitude towards him!

This is not a sign of demotivation – as research shows, indecision and hesitation are the biggest obstacles preventing us from starting housework. If you give in to doubt and let procrastination take over, the mess will get worse and it will be even harder to start clearing it.

“If there is chaos around you and things are lying around every day, it is very difficult to create habits that work for you. For them to emerge, you need an environment that makes them easy to follow,” says Wendy Wood, professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California.

Simply put, tidying up should become an automatic action that you don’t think about. To achieve this, you can use the principles of behavior change science to help you accomplish household chores with ease.

“Gather a kit of cleaning supplies, sponges, cloths, brushes and anything else you might need, and find a place to keep it permanently. Having the right tools and knowing how to use them is the key to making cleaning quick and easy,” says Patrick Richardson, laundry and cleaning expert and author of Loving Your Home: A Joyful Guide to Cleaning and Organizing Your Space.

“We achieve our goals when we have a specific plan, rather than when we have a vague intention to do something. Breaking a task into small pieces will make it understandable and manageable,” advises Wendy Grolnick, professor of psychology at Clark University and co-author of Science-Based Strategies for Boosting Motivation in Yourself and Others.

“Many people think they lack motivation, but in reality, they lack clarity on what, when and how to do it,” says James Clergy, writer, speaker and author of The Simple, Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Habits.

Rules solve this problem by training behavioral algorithms aimed at maintaining order: you will even eliminate the indecision that prevents you from getting started. To install them, Grolnik suggests using the “if […]That […]”

Here are some examples:

You can also do what is often called “habit stacking”: linking an action you need to add to your life with something you already do regularly, such as wiping the sink and brushing your teeth . When you add one operation to another, chances are the new habit will also become part of your “autopilot.”

Once you have a specific task, you need to decide how much time you will devote to it. For example, if you want to declutter your closet, you can spend a few hours on the weekend or 10 minutes every day – choose the option that seems most practical to you.

Or, say you need to clean the living room before guests arrive: in that case, says Richardson, you can also do it in 10 minutes. Set a timer, move quickly: throw everything that shouldn’t be in the room into the laundry basket, dust all large horizontal surfaces with a dry microfiber cloth, vacuum the floor, this will be enough to prevent the space does not appear disordered.

“If household chores turn you off, a strategy called temptation bundling can help,” says Cathy Milkman, a behavioral scientist and professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. The idea is to allow yourself certain pleasures only while working at home – for example, watching an episode of your favorite show while doing the dishes, or talking to a friend on the phone while you iron.

Richardson also recommends getting comfortable: wear clothes that are comfortable and fit well, buy cleaning products that you like the smell of, have a plate of your favorite snacks and a bottle or thermos of your favorite drink.

Also read: 10 tips that will help you keep your home tidy: how to do without general cleaning

Stop from time to time and remember how comfortable it is to live when everything around you is in order: you can take any thing in its place, rather than looking for it for half an hour , and your eye can take a break from its vision. noise. You get used to good things quickly: take a few photos before cleaning, then compare them with what the closet or whole house looks like afterward. You’ll be surprised how much fun you can have with such a simple trick and how much more willing you’ll be to take on the next task to get another photo like this.

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