If like me you have a short attention span, you could use some ways for making boring tasks fun. It’s hard to get motivated to start something tedious in the first place, and even harder to keep the motivation going with an impetus to see the task through. If you struggle with the daily grind, here are some ways for making boring tasks fun.
If I’m stuck for ways for making boring tasks fun, I’ll just make my surroundings more interesting to me. If you’re sat at your desk all day typing away at a school report, put some plants on your desk or open a window and listen to the chatter of birds. If you’re vacuuming or cleaning the kitchen, plug in your iPod and have a dance while doing your chores. By making things more fun and interesting around you, you’ll focus better and enjoy your task a whole lot more. A personal favorite of mine is to listen to a podcast or audiobook while I work – that way I can listen to a story or learn about something new while getting my chores done.
Humans respond well to rewards, so if you want to make things seem more fun, just treat yourself after you get the task done. Whether it’s as simple as eating a bar of your favorite chocolate when you have finished the housework, or going to get your nails done after a week of hard work, by having a reward at the end of your work you’ll find time flies by.
Although it might not necessarily make a boring task more fun, it can certainly help to get you in the right frame of mind. When you are next washing up all of the dirty dishes, while your other half sits and watches the football, think about how much harder someone else has it in the world. It will soon put your trivial complaint into perspective, and you’ll be a lot happier. Or, of course, get your other half to do the washing up for you!
Is your task something that you can meditate whilst doing? If not, at least try to relax while completing the task. Get into a rhythm and just enjoy what you are doing. Take deep breaths, stay hydrated, and enjoy!
It is sometimes a good idea to set yourself slots of time in which to complete a task. Nobody wants to sit and reply to emails for four hours back to back, but if you break it down into periods of 30 minutes it’ll be very easy. Set your alarm or a timer, and have a break every so often so that you keep energized and focused on what you have to do.
This is especially good for making school or job work more fun and enjoyable, but works for other things too. Think about the end result of successfully completing your task. Will it be that you won’t have to do any homework for another week? Or is it that by writing the assignment you will pass your semester? Or it might help you get a promotion at work? Or simply that when you change your bed linen, you have the wonderful feeling of climbing into fresh sheets that night.
Perhaps the best way to make boring tasks more bearable is just to think while you do your chore. Think about the book idea you have. Think about what you’d do if you won the lottery. Think about where you’d like to travel, and the people you’d meet along the way. Make up little stories in your head, or think about hypothetical situations. Think while you work and time will pass very easily while doing even the most mundane jobs.
The key to making boring tasks fun is a subtle balance between achievement and distraction. You shouldn’t allow the “fun” aspect to override that the task still needs to be done. Have fun but forge ahead with the task too. How do you handle boring and menial tasks you simply cannot put off doing?