How To Get Motivated To Clean & Organize Right Now

Feeling stuck & overwhelmed by mess?

Dreading the idea of having to spend the day doing house chores?

Here are some simple tips on how to get motivated to clean, organize, and declutter your house, apartment, or room even if you are too depressed.

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The most important thing you need to understand about how motivation works is this:

You will always move towards what you define as being more “pleasurable” and…

You will always move away towards what you define as being more “painful”.

The keyword here is define.

The way human psychology works is that once we create a set of beliefs about what we like and don’t like (or agree with or don’t agree with), they run on autopilot.

When you entered into this world, you have been making decisions each day about what you define as being pleasurable and define as being painful.

Once you make those decisions, you file them away and move along your life and everything you come upon in life gets filtered through those beliefs and they become habits.

For example…

You never need to “find” motivation to eat your favorite foods or watch your favorite shows.

At some point you made the decision that you loved those things and now you are always automatically going to do those things habitually without hesitation or even thinking about it.

They run on autopilot and you don’t have to “find motivation” to do them.

So if you are not motivated to clean right now it’s because you have defined that as being more “painful” than “pleasurable”.

And this…

“What you resist persists” – Carl Jung

What this quote basically means is that anything you avoid or put off will just get bigger and louder.

You cannot avoid life.

You cannot avoid your self.

You cannot avoid personal responsibility.

If something is there, it is there for a reason.

It is there to send you a signal and say, “Hey, you need to look at this and do something about it.”

You must face it otherwise the issue will just continue to cause you pain.

What many people fail to realize is that any challenge that presents itself in your life is there to serve you as an opportunity to learn and grow.

However, if you avoid the issue by procrastinating, it becomes your burden.

So stop avoiding your responsibilities, step up and face them, and become the better version of yourself now.

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How To Get Motivated To Clean

1. Face Your Fear

The first step in this process is that you must face your fear and remove the negative beliefs around cleaning.

There is something in you that is saying, “This sucks”.

So answer this question:

“Why do I hate cleaning?”

“Why am I avoiding this?”

Write down the answers to those questions.

Look at the answers and then ask yourself, “Is this true?”

Then ask yourself this question: “What would I have to believe is true for me to enjoy cleaning?”

After you acknowledge your fear, you must take action and stop procrastinating.

It’s the putting off and avoiding that is adding more pressure to the task at hand.

You must take action immediately and face your fear of it so that it does not become this big boulder on your back weighing you down feeling like a ton of bricks.

Once you get to the root cause and take action, you are now officially facing your fears.

Unless you get the real cause of this issue, for the rest of your life cleaning will be painful and that’s not a way to live.

2. Know Your “Why?”

In the previous step, you left off with the question that should reveal some reasons as to “why” you can enjoy cleaning.

You have to find a benefit (pleasure) to associate cleaning with.

The truth is, having a clean house, apartment, or room is very satisfying if you are coming from the right perspective and you make it your goal.

A “job well done” is very satisfying and when you are able to sit down in a space that is clean, it feels great.

This is very similar to the idea of exercising.

People who exercise know how great it feels when they are done.

There is a sense of accomplishment and feeling good from the energy created after the workout.

Chances are, you don’t feel this way.

So you need to be honest with yourself, dig deep, and start to look at the broader picture of your life.

Answer this question: “What’s in it for me to clean my house? What benefit can I get out of it?”

You need to answer that question before moving on.

3. Identify A Small Reward

The previous step (2) mainly focuses on the “big picture” of cleaning.

This step focuses more on a smaller immediate reward.

For example…

“After I clean I am going to watch a movie and order a pizza.”

“After I clean I am going out with my friends.”

Create a small reward for yourself so that when you are done, now you can use the rest of the time for yourself for the things you already define as pleasurable.

4. Don’t Procrastinate

Whatever you do, do not put it off and procrastinate.

If you do, it will only make things worse because now your mind is going to start dreading it.

This is how people turn small chores into big chores, they put it off little by little.

Don’t do that.

Attack it right away.

5. Chunk It Down

Rather than thinking about all the things you have to do, chunk it down into smaller steps.

Take out a piece of paper and a pen and write down a list of all the things you need to do.

For example:

– Vacuum
– Bathroom
– Laundry
– Trash

Etc…

Start with one thing first and just focus on that.

The best thing to do is start with something small and simple so you get a sense of accomplishment.

The next thing you know, your body will be moving, you will be putting one foot in front of the other, and it the rest will naturally take care of itself.

6. Remove All Distractions

Turn off your TV.

Turn off your phone.

Turn off anything that can distract you.

Focus on the task at hand.

7. Put On Some Good Music

Music is one of the best ways to pump yourself up and get you in a good mood.

Organize a killer playlist on your iPod, and rock out!

8. Make It A Weekly Habit

If you become overwhelmed by a big mess, it’s because you have not made this a weekly habit.

Over time it just kept piling up and now you have a mess from hell.

You need to stick to a routine. For example:

Every Saturday morning from 9am to 11am.

Find a day and time that works best for you (ideally first thing in the morning) and stick to it!

9. See The Big Picture

Being clean has everything to do with being organized.

Being organized has everything to do with having a purpose driven life.

People who have a purpose and are becoming their best self clean and organize almost daily.

It becomes part of their daily practice.

It is nearly impossible to become successful in life unless you are clean and organized.

So the real question you must ask yourself is this:

What do I want from my life?
What is my purpose in life?

Because unless you answer those questions, cleaning will be some stupid chore you always hate because your subconscious will always say, “What’s the point?”

But the bigger you, the one that has a purpose, will be the only one that can shut that voice up because he/she will say, “The point is this (our purpose).

So you need to either:

A. Take control of your life. Identify your mission and dive into the journey of becoming your bigger self.

B. Don’t. And for the rest of your life you will hate cleaning and anything that has to do with becoming more responsible.

It’s your choice.

What do you choose?

Read: What should I do with my life?

How To Get Motivated To Clean When Depressed

If you are depressed, then you are going to need to face your depression.

Sure, you can avoid it and push it in the corner and muster up enough energy to clean.

But what about the next time you need to clean?

Do you really want to live through life constantly having to pull teeth just to do anything?

Read: How to get motivated when depressed

Motivation To Clean House Quotes

Here are some quotes that will help motivate you to clean:

Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. – Arthur Ashe

You will never always be motivated. You have to learn to be disciplined.

Nobody is impressed with how good your excuses are.

Starve your distractions. Feed your focus.

The greatest lesson of life is that you are responsible for your life. ― Oprah Winfrey

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. – E. E. Cummings

Don’t make excuses for why you can’t get it done. Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.

If you don’t love or use it, it’s clutter. Get rid of it.

Cleaning and organizing is a practice, not a project.

Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

You don’t want to look back on your life and know you could have done better.

You can have results or you can have your excuses. You cannot have both.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment. – Marie Kondo

Never make excuses. Always wake up with a smile knowing that today you are going to have fun accomplishing what others are too afraid to do.

You have one of two choices right now: give up or keep going. One will make you great and the other won’t. Which do you prefer?

Good things come to those who believe. Better things come to those who are patient. The best things come to those who never give up.

Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end. ― Roy T. Bennett

Discipline is the thing that makes you do what you might not want to, but you do it anyway because it’s what you have to do in order to get what you want or desire. ― Kyle Vidrine

Your strength doesn’t come from winning. It comes from struggles and hardship. Everything that you go through prepares you for the next level. ― Germany Kent

Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction. ― Germany Kent

Each person has got a (negative) voice inside them. Communicate with it and take hold of it. Do not let it push and shove you around – you are its master! ― Stephen Richards

If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. – Gandhi

You must do the thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Daily ripples of excellence -over time- become a tsunami of success ― Robin S. Sharma

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. – Lucille Ball

Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life. ― Tony Robbins

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How To Get Motivated To Clean & Organize

Types Of Motivation

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