motivation

What motivates you?

Some of us are motivated by a desire to complete something- check one more task off a to-do list, earn a college degree, finish a 5K run, fill in every square of that killer Sudoku, create a travel scrapbook, be able to see the kitchen counter dishes-free....yes, all of these are things I have completed.  The counter thing was tonight.  :)

Some of us are motivated by money, by power, by acceptance, by pressure, by fear, by love, by our conscience....and yes, all of these things have motivated me at some point in my life as well.

I really didn't set out for this to be some deep, philosophical post tonight, so don't worry it will lighten up soon.  I really wanted to write about procrastination.  But when I was thinking about why I procrastinate, I realized it was due to a lack of motivation.

When I don't do the dishes on those crazy, busy weeks during the school year, it's because I'm not motivated to do it.  I'm tired....I need time to unwind....I put it off one night, which led to the next and now it's overwhelming to look at.....and really, no one is coming over my house to witness the disgusting pile of dishes accumulating in my kitchen....so why do them?

When the photos on my digital camera are filling up my (large) memory card, and I still haven't developed any for over a year....why am I not doing that?   I'll have to pay a large sum to get the prints, put all of those in photo albums which makes more work for me, and my computer is snail-slow yet quick to stop responding....so once I try to upload them I should probably count on being locked up in a room with my laptop for a full day, which isn't my idea of fun.  

When I have a pile of mail to go through, and it just keeps growing....where's the motivation?  Those bills aren't due for a couple weeks, just the sight of that junk mail is annoying, I need to recycle 75% of those things anyway, none of it is urgent.....see, I'm pretty masterful at excuses.

This all leads to my photo evidence of some of my talents in procrastination. 
Enjoy.

And please.....let me know I'm not alone in this. 

This box....contains a pair of cute shoes with a broken strap, with the plan of bringing them somewhere to get fixed.  It's in the bottom of my coat closet.  A really convenient place to remind me to get that done, right? 

Oh, and the box has been there since I moved in my house almost three years ago.

Speaking of shoes....I posted this on Facebook (and Instagram) last week.  These represent only  some of the shoes I can't wear anymore but still keep in my closet....to collect dust.

I am working on this one though-- planning on selling them in a garage sale this summer! 

This paper shredder....which I bought MONTHS ago to replace my weak, only-can-shred-a-couple-papers-at-a-time shredder.....has not been taken out of the box yet.  But....the papers (well, some of them) that I plan on shredding are waiting in folders on top of the box.  

One step closer....

Speaking of not taking something out of its box.....I bought my new vacuum over a month ago and it has even been in plain sight the whole time....whether I'm sitting at my dining room table, in the living room, walking in the front door, or coming down my hall.  It's not hiding downstairs like the shredder.  No....it's just a constant reminder of how I don't enjoy assembling things. 

And how my carpets must be really gross right now.  Hope that wasn't TMI.  ;)

This might be a hard one to see....where the ceiling meets the brown wall, about a third of the way from the upper right corner, is a milky-white glob of.....well, I'm not exactly sure.  It could just be dust. It could be a cobweb.  Or, it could be the nest for a thousand tiny little spider babies.    

I'm not sure if I'm too lazy to get up there and find out, or too terrified.  

And seriously, I'm not even scared of spiders.

Spider baby nests.....that's a different story. 

Besides showing my love for Tide detergent, this is actually related to my procrastination.

These bottles are all empty.  Some have been for months.

All I need to do is rinse them and then I can throw them in my recycling.

Yet, they stay together like a little Tide bottle family on my laundry room floor.

Again-- lack of motivation.

THIS....is a biggie.  This pile of randomness is only part of what taunts me every time I throw one more thing in my spare room downstairs.  And then proceed to close the door so I don't have to look at the mess.  However....one of my summer goals is to create an exercise room in here, and with a garage sale in the plans, I might actually be able to check this off my list.  :)

Behind my pretty new stove is another reminder.....of a project that was supposed to get done last summer when I painted my cupboards.....my mom and I ripped down the laminate backsplash (YES, I said laminate- and ewww they were a hideous color to boot).  We did this along with taking out the old counters before I got the new counters installed.  I didn't, however, count on the fact that this was in August right before my school year planning started......so, it's stayed this way ever since. 

And now.....a success story.  This huge "boo boo" on the wall-- from when we ripped out the aforementioned counters-- has had been there since August as well.

However, just this weekend I (FINALLY!!) patched it up, and painted over it.  

In a brand new paint color.

Which will all be revealed when I write my kitchen remodel posts.

Someday.  

Ha ha.....couldn't help but add in one more example of procrastination there. 

And now that I've completed another thing (this post), I feel pretty proud. 

Now, that's motivation!!