Do you work better when you have a deadline? Or do you just think you do?
I read an article a couple of years ago about "Pro Moms" who somehow manage to run their families in the same way that they used to run their offices, when they were in the workforce. And frankly, I don't know how they do it. 
The home is not an office. It's not a classroom. It's a home, and it's just different. I have been both a teacher and a software analyst, so I've worked in both environments, in positions where I had a certain degree of authority over others. I also had clear deadlines, and a definite beginning and end to the day. I have none of these in my current chosen vocation of Wife, Mom, Homemaker, Shopper, Baker, Family Taxi Driver, and Finder of All Lost Things. Even my Really Cool Planner can't make me toe the daily-schedule line the way a school bell or the demands of a boss might.
And sometimes that makes it easy for me to just put things off for another day. It's nice to be able to do that when I have a sick child who needs my attention, or some other emergency comes up. But I admit that sometimes I just allow myself to take the lazy way out and go with Scarlett O'Hara's famous line: "Tomorrow is another day."
Maybe that's why I need the motivation of "someone's coming over" to really buckle down and get stuff done around here. Because let's face it--there will always be more laundry, more dishes in the sink, and more dirt to sweep off the floor. (We won't even go into the way the dust bunnies manage to multiply.) Clearly I work better with the pressure of a deadline.
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2 Responses to “Procrastination”
I have two totally personalities, one at home and one at work, both completely different. I think I'm pretty well organized and have it together at work, but at home is another story......
Amber Kimball
I've found that the best way for me to get my house clean is to invite people over for a meal. Then I'm pressured to clean the house! That's pretty much the only way it gets "clean" because I'm too busy normally to take the time to do more than a "lick and a promise" cleaning.