It’s a familiar scenario-you become aware that your home is a mess, yet the thought of putting yourself through cleaning (i.e., removal of dirt from things) or tidying (i.e., putting things away where they belong) makes you feel unbearably exhausted. And the exhaustion you feel begins to ignite feelings of guilt before you even choose to slack. “Should I force myself to clean right now?” you ask, feeling a stubborn “No!” rising up from your chest. “Will I ever get myself to clean? What’s wrong with me? I know it’s not hard, I should just do it!”
Shaming yourself into doing something is never the answer. Instead, let’s work on how you structure your thoughts.
Whenever you find yourself asking “Should I do _______ or not?” understand that you’re not really making a decision. In this case, true decision-making would happen if you were choosing between alternatives. The real decision isn’t whether you’re going to clean or not. It’s whether you’re going to clean or start doing some other activity that you might prefer more. For example, will you clean or relax with a book? Or try to respond to some work emails? Or go for a walk? The evaluation of alternatives is where we’ll start. Download the worksheet using one of the options below.
The worksheet is available for free, although a small contribution to help cover the time we spend designing and developing these materials would be very appreciated!
- Please select an option below to download.
- If you choose the free option, our download manager will ask you to add the item to a cart, but don’t worry! You will not be charged to download it.
- If you choose to contribute, you will be directed to payment through PayPal, to an account that ends with @2lch.com—please don’t worry that it doesn’t say @thelucubrators.com, 2LCH is the design and development company that sponsors these worksheets!
- If you download the worksheet for free, and end up really liking it, feel free to come back again to re-download it with a contribution.