Newton's first law of housekeeping

A body in motion stays in motion, and a body at rest stays at rest, unless acted upon by an external force.

Here it is, another beautiful day! You’ve just completed your morning routine: breakfast, exercise, personal hygiene, etc. But instead of jumping on your first task of the day, you find yourself sitting in front of your to-do list, dithering over which task is the best one to get done first. Since you can’t decide, you go to check your email, “just to get it out of the way,” and find yourself on Reddit for the next three hours.

Getting started on a task, aka overcoming your body at rest

It is hard to get moving without a push. What works for me: virtual dice. I make a to-do list of six items, and then pull up any of the virtual dice Flash tools on the internet. Or if you actually have real dice somewhere, that’s fine too. Roll the dice, and let the fates pick what task you start with. When you finish, roll again and move on to the next task. Keep going until your to-do list is done!

This works best if you plan your tasks carefully. I find that tasks that take 15-30 minutes are best. Definitely nothing that takes more than an hour. I try to also mix them up a little, so I have both mental and physical tasks, and at least one that is kind of fun but still something that you'd pat yourself on the back for completing. Here is a sample list:

1. Create lesson plan for Thursday
2. Finish reading library book
3. Round up and hand-wash all drinking glasses
4. Take notes on chapter 8
5. Sweep and mop front room and kitchen
6. Balance checkbook and pay bills

I will list the same task more than once if it is very important and has a time limit. If I have less than six items, I fill up the remaining spots with “roll again.” Keeping a six-item to-do list handy means that if you have a spare half hour, you can roll the dice and get something done, rather than puttering around until time is up.

Keeping your body in motion

According to Newton’s first law, once you are moving you will keep moving unless acted upon by an external force. What are the external forces in your house? The couch? The TV? The bathroom mirror? The phone? If you have three hours to get odd and ends done before your next scheduled appointment – stay away from these danger zones! Email is a dangerous one for me – I always want to respond to new emails the second they come in, and write a new email as soon as a thought occurs to me. I have to remind myself, if it can wait an hour then it should wait an hour.

When you start working on tasks, don’t stop until the list is done or your time is up. Don’t “reward” yourself between tasks. You will have an even harder time getting moving again if you stop for a little snack or a chat with the neighbor or that episode of Santuary on the DVR.

Sometimes the tasks on our list force us to take a break. We have to wait for the laundry to dry before we can put it away, the toilet cleaner to soak in before we can finish cleaning the bathroom, and the pots to finish soaking before we can scrub them. For these situations, set a timer on your phone or in the kitchen, and move onto another task in the meantime. Timers can also help if you are working on a task that allows you to daydream. Some times when I’m working on a report, or a lesson plan, or a blog post, I’ll find my mind drifting off-topic, and the task will take much longer than it needs to. Setting a timer to go off every few minutes keeps me focused and productive. (If you have a roommate or officemate, be considerate with your timers! Set them to go off quietly and shut them off right away, so that the constant beeping doesn’t drive them insane.)

By rolling dice to start a task, and refusing to stop between tasks, I can cram a lot of activity into a short amount of time.