How To Get Motivated To Clean When Overwhelmed By Mess

Everyone loves a clean and tidy home, or work space. Mess simply does not hold any appeal, unless you are a three year old. Just like how all good things require work/effort, a tidy home is a direct result of the effort you put into cleaning it.

Constantly staying motivated to clean your space is no mean feat, there’s always a lot of work involved in it and there are always other seemingly important things to do. Procrastination has always been the biggest reason why many homes are untidy and worse is; the more you procrastinate, the worse the mess gets.

There isn’t any quick fix for getting motivated to clean your home, the key lies in developing healthy habits and making cleaning a part of your life, as it should be.

Why We Lose Motivation To Clean House?

Losing motivation to clean isn’t uncommon, so don’t sit around feeling sorry for yourself. Life always happens, priorities and our plans are constantly being altered by forces beyond our control. Illness, depression, impromptu engagements, backlogs catching up … or your boss. On days like this it’s all we can do to just survive the day, hence cleaning would appear far less important.

Below are seven ways to motivate yourself to clean in the midst of mess.

7 Ways to Get Motivated To Clean When Overwhelmed By Mess

Create a mental image

Creating a mental image of what your space would look like when clean is the first step in motivating yourself to clean. Visualize how much better and organized your life will be when your space spotless. After you’ve fantasized about it a bit, it won’t take long before you spring to action.

Start Small

Always begin with little things, trying to square up and take the entire mess head on is bound to overwhelm you. Start with a single surface or corner, don’t let yourself think about other places just yet.

The important thing is that are doing something and that means procrastination is 50% defeated. Most times when I start by cleaning a single surface, I’m always so pleased with myself and how it looks that I end up cleaning more areas.

Another advantage of this approach is that it breaks down your chores into simple “non-threatening” bits. The best way to start a big cleaning job is to break it down into more manageable tasks or areas and then celebrate each little success to keep yourself motivated. For instance, If you’re cleaning out the kitchen, you can begin by first breaking down the process into smaller tasks, the first could be to take out stuff that are not useful anymore.

You can dedicate an afternoon to cleaning out drawers and then dedicate the next to cleaning the counter top. You may round up by going shopping to replace groceries and then going to see a movie as a reward for completing the task. The surge you will get as a result of having completed something and the mini reward will motivate you to take the next step, which might be to clean behind the refrigerator and hidden spaces.

Once that step is completed, you can progress to other parts of the house. Before you realize what is happening, you’ll almost begin to anticipate cleaning to get your reward and the sense of accomplishment that comes with it. Remember that a vital part of this strategy is  breaking down large tasks into smaller, more manageable ones so that you won’t be overwhelmed or exhausted.

Take as little breaks as you can unless you are genuinely tired. Frequent breaks disrupt your work flow. A good break is an opportunity to to recharge your batteries and cut yourself some slack. The key is to not overexert yourself and end up feeling sore all unable to clean the next day.

Clean in the Morning

Studies have shown that scheduling your most daunting task to be done at the beginning of your day will lead it to be done quicker. What’s even more exciting is that you go through the rest of the day with an incredible feeling of satisfaction.

Limit Distractions

People’s attention spans are at an all time low, social media feeds and chat notifications are constant sources of distraction now. It may take you just a few seconds to attend to them, but a few seconds is all it takes to lose your momentum and focus. The best way to get rid of this is to turn off your devices or put them away from you in silent mode.

Get External Validation

Nobody likes to admit it, but we all feel ashamed when we cannot stay motivated to clean. Shame makes us shrivel up and avoid other people – we refrain from inviting friends to visit. The remedy for shame is validation. Remember how when you were alike validation came in the form of ribbons, gold stars, Brownie points, or praise from our parents and teachers? The huge difference is that as an adult you need to seek out your own validation. If you happen to have a spouse o that doesn’t appreciate your effort enough, call a friend and tell them all about it.

Whistle and Listen to Music While You Work

Singing, dancing and whistling along to a song you love while working will do wonders for your motivation. With time you can even compile a playlist made to serve across mediums.

Get an Accountability Partner

Having a partner who you can call when you aren’t feeling motivated enough, you body may also call each other and talk while cleaning. The goal of this is to have someone who can remind you and make sure you follow your schedule.

It goes without saying that all of these won’t just happen overnight, it’ll take time to get used to but it’ll be worth it at the end!