We start the Homemaking journey filled with joy and looking forward to a well kept home but in time, our spirit dampens and the enthusiasm fizzles out.
The three things you begin to occasionally (or more) feel are
1. Overwhelmed
2. Drained
3. Embarrassed
And at this stage, you need these three elements to keep you going on and on, day after day. These are the three components of striving forward. And these are, as you might have guessed
1. Inspiration
2. Motivation
3. Productivity
So how do we reintroduce these three magical elements of homemaking into our life?
Inspiration
Without inspiration, you will never achieve the other two elements. One of the easiest way to get inspired is to watch other people cleaning their home, cooking and decorating.
Inspiration is what motivates you to do more. When motivated, you are productive. It’s as simple as that! But is it?
While this is good in theory, choosing the right inspiration and being motivated is not easy. It is just so much easier, to lie in bed and binge watch while wallowing in sadness because simmering you attempted, didn’t give you the results you wanted.
It’s important to use inspiration and adapt it to your own style instead of following it to the tee and not being able to achieve/ maintain it.
Motivation
Motivation is the drive to achieve your goals or needs. It is influenced by:
• how much you want the goal
• what you will gain
• what you will lose from not achieving your goal
• your personal expectations
• appreciation / self pride
Easiest way to put this across is if you can see an end result you want, striving to reach there, you will be motivated by the outcome to work harder and faster (preferably, smarter).
But when you get stuck, you lose motivation. At this point, revert to seeking inspiration from new methods and different approaches or ideas.
Most people want to change at least one thing in their life. But it can be challenging to find the motivation just to make a start. It helps if you understand what motivation means to you so you can find your own ways to get motivated.
Productivity
This can be summarised by how much you have to show, for what you have done.
You might work all day with nothing to show for it except a slightly burnt cake.
Productivity is measured by
⁃ Progress towards short and long term goals.
⁃ Maintaining the necessary household and work related standard and deadlines
⁃ Have realistic standards in what you can in so in a day or it’s going cause more anxiety and stress. Age, mobility, health, energy and time are all categories to take into account when planning your day.
⁃ All the superfluous things we do are of no value (unless they bring us joy and is therefore, self care)
In summary, we usually start with lots of motivation from the inspiration that’s buzzing in our minds and are therefore very productive. Slowly, due to lack of desired outcomes and basic fatigue, we lose interest.
These three factors usually work hand in hand, rising and decreasing together.
There are times our productivity is the only aspect taking a beating, for that, it’s necessary to consider revisiting your goals (your life choices might no longer resonate with the goals you are aiming for). Procrastination is also something that creeps in for this and other reasons.
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