How to enjoy mundane tasks
Photo by Scott Umstattd on Unsplash
Jan 19, 2021
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Ingrid Fetell Lee
This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series,
each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED
community; browse through all the posts here.
These days, one common complaint that I’ve noticed from
friends and on my social media feeds is how much more time we all seem
to be spending doing chores. Many meals that were once eaten
out or on the go are eaten at home, necessitating more cooking. Being
home all day every day, dishes pile up in the sink and everything seems
to get dirtier that much quicker.
Like seemingly everyone else right now, I find myself grappling with
having to spend more time doing things I dislike. But when the going
gets tough, the tough get joyful (that’s the saying, right???) — and so I
thought I’d gather some inspiration for ways to make some life’s
dullest chores more delightful.
For ideas, I turned to the Joyspotters Society, a free online community I founded that is devoted to finding and creating more joy in daily life.
I was overwhelmed by their response. I’ve gathered their tips into
themes to make it easier for you to find the strategies that will work
for you and added some of my own, as well as ones I’ve come across in my
research.
1. Set a timer
Joyspotter Genevieve writes: “I hated emptying the dishwasher (I
know, privilege) until I timed myself doing it. It took 4 minutes.
Knowing that, it’s no longer a big deal.”
I love this strategy because it creates awareness. What seems like a
big, looming task actually turns out to be inconsequential when we look
at it.
The other thing about setting a timer is that it can make a task feel
like a race, which turns it into a game. Vanessa says that she sets a
17-minute timer for cleaning the bathrooms on Monday mornings. “I always
try to beat it! Loooove starting my week with that chore checked off.”
I used to do the same thing for my drawing exercises in grad school,
allowing only 20 minutes per page. Being “on the clock” focused my
attention, giving me an energy boost that helped me power through pages
and pages of repetitive warm-up sketches.
2. Dance it out
Many joyspotters rely on a playlist of fun tunes to keep their energy
up during unpleasant chores. The most popular genres seem to be top 40
hits from the 80s, 90s, and 00s, but anything with a fast beat and a
joyful cadence will do the trick. (A few specific favorites include
Spice Girls, B52s, and Hanson. Joyspotter Marike even has a “special vacuuming song” which she kindly shared.)
I’ll attest to the power of good music as a salve for chores; our
weekly cleaning sessions became much more fun as soon as my partner
Albert discovered this “Cleaning + Organizing” playlist on Spotify.
And if the urge to bust a move in the middle of chores strikes, most
joyspotters agree that it’s worth indulging in a dance break. Shelly
writes, “I have cordless headphones and a ‘Joy’ playlist with all songs
that bring me joy. I hit shuffle and clean and dance away, makes it go
so much faster.”
Even if the time spent dancing makes tasks take a little longer, it
feels like less time goes by. And if you invest in a pair of washable mop slippers — as recommended by Twila — your dance moves can be as productive as they are joyful!
Music and dancing can also soothe nerves agitated by certain tasks.
As our resident designer Linzi points out, “I hate vacuuming because the
noise makes me anxious and it takes a long time. I put on my
headphones, turn up my music loud, and make myself dance around the
apartment while cleaning.”
Linzi’s approach reminded me that some chores are unpleasant not just
because they’re tedious or dull, but because they trigger sensitivities
(such as to loud noises or harsh smells) or negative emotions (such as
disgust). Adding in pleasing sensations can be an important way to ease
the negative impact of these triggers.
3. Layer in a guilty pleasure
Let me make one thing clear: I don’t like the term “guilty pleasure.”
Unless a pleasure hurts you or someone else, the guilt we attach to it
usually stems from external judgments around the value of that
enjoyment. Why sabotage our joy by labeling it in a negative way?
That said, the association can be hard to break, and when it comes to
pleasures we feel guilty about, TV is often at the top of the list.
Decades of criticism have taught us to believe that TV is “chewing gum
for the brain”, so even when we enjoy it, we often feel like it’s
something we shouldn’t be doing.
But adding a so-called guilty pleasure to a dreaded task seems to
redeem them both. Allowing ourselves to watch a favorite TV show while
ironing or folding laundry puts boundaries around the indulgent quality
of TV watching and makes the task more pleasurable.
As Eveline says, “I love folding laundry! It is one of the few chores
you can do while watching television! Which make[s] me feel not so
guilty about watching a quick vlog or tv show in the middle of the day.”
4. Harness the power of scent
One of the things I’ve been finding joyful in cleaning the kitchen has been rediscovering Citrasolv,
a potent natural cleaner made from the oil found in orange peel. It
cuts grease like nobody’s business, and the citrus scent always perks me
up.
Many joyspotters are also fans of incorporating pleasurable scents in
household chores. Nandita sprinkles lavender oil on her sheets after
she makes the bed, while Mandalynn adds essential oils to her cleaning
products to give them a natural, fresh scent.
Others mentioned choosing cleaning products with joyful scents (one
favorite brand is The Laundress) or lighting a candle before or after
cleaning.
Doing this can turn cleaning into a form of aromatherapy. Lavender is a good hoice because it’s been shown in research to reduce anxiety. Citrus
scents might actually help you keep a space cleaner longer —
one study found that people were less likely to litter or make a mess in spaces where a citrus scent is present.
5. Document your efforts
This suggestion comes from joyspotter Nicole, who says, “Sometimes
I’m not in the mood to cook… but recently I’ve started making
time-lapses of my cooking process and that makes it super fun!”
For her, the fun occurs on two levels: During the process, she knows
she has a fun video to look forward to (this stimulates our sense of
anticipation, which can be a potent joy enhancer). And after, she gets
the reward of watching the video.
Kerri has a friend who uses this same strategy for cleaning, and
points out another benefit: The timelapse occupies your phone so that
you don’t get distracted during your cleanup.
If a timelapse feels too challenging, you can use your phone to add
joy in other ways. Valeska says, “The other week I made some videos
using the Snapchat lenses of me pretending to sing along (lip sync) and
being silly while cleaning and shared it with some friends.”
She says it gave her “a good laugh (spreading joy) and really raised
my energy levels while doing it.” Another easy suggestion: Take
before-and-after pics of your work and text them to a friend.
6. Create a ritual of celebration or gratitude
According to Casper ter Kuile, the author of The Power of Ritual,
a ritual is defined by three things: Intention, attention and
repetition. A routine might be something you repeat often, but add an
intention and focus your attention on it, and you can create a ritual.
Joyspotter Lisa does a pre-cleaning ritual, which involves saying a
little blessing for her home and lighting a candle. She says this helps
her focus on how she’s creating positive energy by cleaning, making it
less a chore than a joyful act of transformation.
Other joyspotters do something similar after cleaning. Jennifer, for
example, lights a candle when she’s finished. As she says, “It’s like a
finishing touch or celebration, it’s nice!”
Many joyspotters also incorporate elements of mindfulness or
gratitude throughout their chores, reflecting on how thankful they are
simply to have a home to take care of or clothes to fold. Doing this
takes the focus off the task and brings it back onto the broader joys
that such objects enable.
7. Surround yourself with things you love
Another way to make chores more joyful? Stop caring for items that
you don’t really want or love. As joyspotter Claudie writes, “The other
thing that has helped me is making sure I only have things I really like
in my house/cupboards/wardrobe. I have bright colors and pretty things
about and find them more rewarding to keep tidy. That way I’m not
wasting time tidying stuff that irritates me anyway!”
When we buy things, we tend to think about them as simply physical
objects. But each item we acquire is also a commitment to a future
investment of time: The time spent washing, mending, maintaining or even
just seeing that item.
When you have things you don’t like in your space, this time and
effort can feel wasted. When you truly love what you’re surrounded by,
as Claudie points out, it doesn’t erase the fact that you’re doing
chores but your effort feels meaningful and worthwhile.
Having items you truly love can also give you something to focus on
while doing unpleasant tasks. For example, Lindsey keeps plants near the
sink so that she sees them while she’s washing dishes. Instead of
having a blank wall to look at, she surrounds the spaces where work
occurs with thethings that bring her joy.
8. Realize that OK is good enough
And lastly, several joyspotters say that sometimes it’s important to
lower your standards. “OK is good enough,” writes Hinda, saying that
this has become a bit of a mantra for her as someone with a
perfectionist streak.
To those of us type-A folks, the idea of lowering standards can
sometimes feel like we’re letting ourselves down. But instead, think
about it as a form of prioritization.
You can have perfectly clean floors all the time, but is that
something that’s going to matter to you when you’re 80? If so, by all
means, scrub away.
But for most of us, sacrificing a bit of perfection in our chores can
be a conduit to spending more time lingering over a delicious meal,
enjoying a sunset or working on a rewarding project.
At the end of the day, chores keep us — and our homes — safe, clean
and healthy so that we’re able to do the things that bring us joy. So if
having more time for joy means sometimes doing the bare minimum, that
seems a worthwhile trade-off to me.
This post was first published on The Aesthetics of Joy site — and go to the original post there to read 6 more tips.
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Pete Ryan
