Forced Forward: Three Ways to Get Your Rear in Gear
It’s PCS season for half the military right now, the annual round of musical chairs we’re all subjected to with startling regularity—and some of us are feeling it (I just got a text from a friend 5 hours into their road trip and ready to quit). Personally, I’m reveling in the fact that we are not moving (for once!), but it’s put the pressure on for me to do all the other things that I haven’t gotten to do in a while.
What this means is that I have checklists for my checklists.
And I don’t hate that. I don’t hate it because, at my core, I really am pretty Type A, and checklists and planners and color-coded spreadsheets are my friend. But I also don’t hate it because the checklists to my checklists show me that there is forward movement in some key areas where I really want to see forward movement. There is visible progress, and that’s motivating.
But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes the little empty square waiting for its checkmark is insufficient inspiration. And that’s why this year on our Summer Schedule one of the kids’ items is: “Encourage Mom to write or lesson plan.”
So every day, multiple times a day, one of my terrifying offspring sidles up to me, leans in to give me a hug, and says, “Mom, just so you know, you really need to be writing right now.” Or, “Mom, have you worked on school planning today?” Or, “Mom, I know you probably don’t want to do this, but you really should write or lesson plan.”
And yes, I am already regretting (100%) putting that on the checklist. Because it is annoying as all get out. But it is also very effective.
You know what else is effective? Telling your friends that you’re supposed to be blogging right now. And sending them a picture of the empty draft file looking the way it’s looked for the last two hours while you procrastinated by eating lunch and reading a dumb novel. Then they will make fun of you and give you really bad topic ideas and bribe you with a pool trip if you finish your work—and it will give you a legitimate idea and before you know it—BAM!—that post has practically written itself.
But when all else fails, the last thing I’m using to force myself forward is to try to make the stuff I need to get done fun.
I had my eldest build a playlist I can listen to while I’m forcing myself through resistance workouts. I challenged the kids to a clean up competition where they tackled their rooms while I took on the homeschool materials—winner picked Friday night’s movie. I dangle those pool trips before my greedy eyes like a carrot before a starving donkey (yes, I just compared myself to a donkey).
Because at the end of the day, when you don’t have enough energy to keep forcing yourself forward, it helps to have another box to check off the list, and it helps to have a husband and kids and friends who cheer you on from the sidelines, and it helps to have made it as much fun as you possibly can.
Onwards and upwards, my friends. Or further up and further in, if you’re Lewis fans. And this is especially for those of you moving this summer.
I’m over here cheering you on from CA (while not-so-secretly really enjoying not being in your shoes right now). Feel free to text or call when you want to quit, and I’ll handwrite you a checklist that you won’t be able to read because my handwriting is so bad… or I’ll remind you to keep going and that you’ve done it before and you can do it again… or I’ll do what I can to come up with insane suggestions to make it fun.
Like challenging you to unpack the entire house (moving truck to pictures on the walls) in less than three days. Oh, wait, that was only fun for me.
Regardless, consider this your shove down the road. Just a small one. Together, we can keep forcing each other forward. One step at a time. Or, maybe, if we’re trying to make it fun, one sashay at a time.
