Chores and undesirable tasks are easy to avoid. Sometimes anything else seems more important. After they’re done, the great feeling often makes the effort seem small. Why do we put things off?

On Sunday, Trish and I did a kitchen tidy. A couple of our cabinets were teeming with stuff. It’s been driving us both crazy for a while, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to deal with it. The tidy took longer than I expected, but the result was well worth it. We could have felt this good sooner if we had dealt with it when we first noticed the problem.

After lamenting the state of my unruly hair for a couple of weeks, I finally got a trim. Like every other time, I feel better and wonder why I waited so long. Why not set aside 30 minutes for a haircut to feel better every day?

I’ve learned my lesson and realize the reward outweighs the effort. It seems to me that “Just do it” might be the best slogan ever. I might not wear their shoes, but I can certainly follow their advice.

What do you do to motivate yourself to action?