I saw
this video via Alison Kent, and several things about it struck me. First, I want those stairs! And second, this is the approach I need to take to writing.
How do you put fun in your work? If you haven’t lately, watching the video might make you think about it.
I’m a firm believer in the fun theory. Any task is easier when you add an entertainment factor to it.
Joggers who ran while wearing Walkman radios got me into the habit of listening to mine when I do a really boring chore. Gloria Estefan has no idea how many floors she’s helped motivate me to mop.
In the military basic we used to race each other for bragging rights on who could get certain tasks done the faster, like making our beds and shining our shoes. When I’m feeling blah I still do that, and use a stop watch to time how long it takes me to fold a basket of laundry, wash a sinkful of dishes or vaccuum a room. I can still neatly fold twelve bath towels in under two minutes. 🙂
To teach the kids to be neater, without any notice or warning I’d occasionally hide gold-wrapped chocolate coins or plastic easter eggs containing little treats in their rooms, always in toys or things that needed to be put away. The only rules were that they had to find all of them and put their things away before they could have the treats. They called them “Mom’s treasure hunts” instead of chores.
I have a ten-hour round trip drive I have to make every other month, mostly on roads that are really boring and have hardly any radio reception, and that’s when I listen to audio books. I’d love to figure out a game I could play or some kind of activity that wouldn’t distract me from driving but would keep me entertained. Maybe the GPS people will dream up something.
I love cleaning to music. Also seeing how much I can do in 5 minutes. Usually, a lot more than you’d expect. But I’m so stealing that treasure hunt idea! We have empty plastic eggs.
Audio books are great for long drives. A distraction game, I dunno, come up with one-minute stories for things or people you see on the road?
I’m willing to try anything. My brother and I used to play 50 states with license plates when I was a kid (whoever called out the state first got it, and whoever spotted the greatest number of different states won.) I still do it with my kids, but kind of hard to do it alone. 😉