I know you should blow bubbles when you swim, but your bubbles are coming out the wrong end!

I got back in the pool this morning and it felt great! Now, I had to do some serious convincing to get my body out of bed this morning, but it was worth it. Why is it that we procrastinate doing those things that we know will make us feel better?

I feel more relaxed when the house is clean, but is it always clean? No. I always feel better after a workout, but do I always workout when I should? No. I always enjoy working in the garage on a project with a nice organized workbench. You see what I am getting at.

Why do we not take the time to do those things until we have to? My guess is because the act of doing it is not as enjoyable as the reward. I am reminded of R giving up the chance to make and eat cookies (reward), because eating her dinner is too much work.

Most of these acts mentioned are things that we know we need to do. So how can we make the actions more bearable, so we can get the reward? Work tends to go by faster when you are having fun, so lets make these things fun! The next time you need to clean the house (for me this is very past due), crank up the music, put on an old pair on socks, spray the bottoms with Pledge, and do your best Olympic speed skating impersonation. Getting motivated to get back to working out is a tough one, so we need something over the top. Plug your Internet router, and tv powerstrips into a timer. Set them so that they will shut off for at least one hour every day. Now, this one does require you to be on the honor system, but this should cut off the distractions for you to workout.

In the end, there will always be those things that we struggle to get motivated to do regardless of the reward. Just remember, the only people that can get by without doing the tasks that are needed but not fun are politicians. We see where that has left us!