The motivation to clean comes easily for some, and not so much for others. If you fall into the second category, you can try to conjure some energy up, maybe by using a simple rewards system for yourself, but the truth is that we all need a little pressure to really get things going sometimes.
I’m not just saying that, either. It’s a known law of productivity called the Yerkes-Dodson Law. I’ve written about it before, usually relating to its usefulness when tackling a to-do list or work project, but you can engineer it to apply to cleaning, too.
What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?
The Yerkes-Dodson Law, conceptualized by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson, says you’re most productive when you have just the right amount of stress pushing you to act. You can’t have too much, or you’ll spiral. You can’t have too little, or you’ll have no sense of urgency and just keep putting your tasks off.
What this boils down to for our purposes here is timing. With too much or not enough time to do something, you’ll find your performance taking a hit. You need a somewhat tight schedule, but enough time to clean. You need a looming deadline.
How to use Yerkes-Dodson for cleaning
Now, about that deadline. When you’re cleaning, do you ever stop and think about what you’re doing it for? I live alone, so for me, it’s not for my family and, since I don’t necessarily mind when my folded laundry sits on a chair for a week instead of in the closet where it belongs, it’s not even really for me. What motivates me to clean is the idea of someone coming over and seeing that laundry.
You have to concoct your own stressors and put them into action. Here are some ideas:
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Invite friends over for dinner in a week’s time
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Commit to taking your next Zoom meeting on-camera, with your home visible behind you
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Tell yourself you can do something special in a week—like see a movie or buy something you’ve wanted to splurge on—but only if you get your cleaning done by then
Having a set deadline (that includes a consequence for failure) will motivate you and give you some urgency, putting you squarely in the Yerkes-Dodson sweet spot. The trick is to make sure the deadline and possible consequences are some time in the near future, so you have enough time to clean but not enough time to put it off. This works: I never clean as thoroughly as I do before leaving on a big trip and asking my friends to come over and feed my pets. I personally don’t want to clean before I’m gone for a week since, hell, I won’t be around to see the mess that whole time and I’m already stressed enough with packing and planning, but the idea of my friends seeing it is too much.
One of the friends who regularly helps me with this task had her own Yerkes-Dodson cleaning revelation a few weeks ago. She was feeling down for a while, not tidying up much, when found out she had a Zoom interview coming up with someone important to her career development. She couldn’t have them seeing a background of disarray, so she finally cleaned up—and it improved her mood, too, pulling her somewhat out of her funk.
Regrettably, we sometimes have to threaten ourselves or put ourselves in a position to face a negative consequence to see results. If giving yourself grace or working at your own pace isn’t cutting it, it’s time to try a new approach. Just make sure you’re doing this diligently and smartly. Create a cleaning schedule that will allow you to tackle the area in question a little bit every day, instead of all at once, to ensure you finish on time for your deadline without burning out.
