The dishes take four minutesEveryday life

unbry

The dishes take four minutes

A short book about why you put off housework, and how to stop

14 chapters6,332 wordsAbout 29 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis book is short on purpose. You can read it in an evening. Most of it is about why you put housework off. Only the last third is about what to do. I…1 min
1The pile on the chairThere's a chair in your bedroom that stopped being a chair some time ago. It holds the clothes that are too clean for the wash and too worn for the…2 min
2What "later" buys youPicture a normal weekday. You come home, drop your bag, and walk into the kitchen. Breakfast things are on the counter, last night's pots are in the sink…2 min
3Waiting to feel like itAsk most people why the bathroom hasn't been cleaned and you'll hear some version of "I haven't felt up to it." The plan, if you can call it one, is to…3 min
4The job in your headThere are two versions of every chore. One is in the sink. The other is in your head, and the one in your head is the one you've been refusing to do. In…2 min
5"I'm just a messy person"After enough years of this, you need an explanation, and the one most people reach for is character. I'm lazy. I'm a slob. I'm just not a tidy person. My…2 min
6Properly or not at allHere's a plan you may recognise. The house has got away from you, so you decide that on Saturday you'll do the whole thing. Top to bottom, properly, with…2 min
7"I've earned a rest"By now you might have a particular worry. If you stop putting things off, what happens to your evenings? You work hard. The sofa at the end of the day is…3 min
8"Why should I, when nobody else does?"If you share your home, there may be another voice in the mix, and it's an angry one. "I did the bins last time. And the time before. If I do them again…2 min
9The decisionEverything so far has been about seeing the habit clearly. This chapter is about what to do, and it starts with one decision that the rest depends on.…4 min
10When "later" comes backAt some point in the next few days, you'll look at a dirty pan and hear the old thought, clear as ever. "I'll do it later." You might feel a flash of…2 min
11Bad weeksThere will be a week when it all slides. You'll get the flu, or work will eat your evenings, or a child will stop sleeping, and by Friday the kitchen will…2 min
12The next ten minutesYou've reached the end, so here's what I'd like you to do with it. Put the book down and find the small job that's been bothering you most. It should be…1 min
·NotesThe account of procrastination as short-term mood repair in chapter 2 comes from Fuschia Sirois and Timothy Pychyl, "Procrastination and the priority of…1 min

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