18-May-2020
Fact – no one likes chores, it is generally not fun and can be unpleasant to the ego. Chores are essentially work and no one is compelled to do them unless we have to, or is motivated by some other necessity or condition. In short, if you are given a choice between having fun or to do chores, most people would choose fun.
One way out of the chores vs fun dilemma is by having money, then someone else can do your chores for you whilst you have fun. You can be skiing in Aspen whilst someone waters your lawn. In fact, a lot of the service industry is essentially devoted to doing other people’s chores. Mowing, cleaning, child care, tax returns, deliveries to name a few. If you look a little bit deeper, it can be argued that, in your work place, you are doing someone else’s chores. Say your boss didn’t want to do a spreadsheet, guess what, it’s been delegated to you. Fact is, your employment is based on a very simple principle, you are instructed to some shite that other people don’t want to do (or couldn’t do) and you get paid. Even as a CEO, your chore is to manage and run a company on behalf of the shareholders (and get paid heaps). In real terms, this is what the economy is all about. You do some other people’s chores (or so call needs & wants) and thereby earn money, so that you can pay other people to do your own chores. The game is about shuffling money and see how much money you are left with after each turn.
So, if you didn’t have enough money in the first place to pay others to do your chores and you also don’t want to do your own chores, then what? Well, that’s the problem – chores are not done and eventually turns into a bigger problem, which is the story of our lives! From not doing chores at all, to not doing the chores on time and not at the right frequency/occurrence, we’ve been finding all sort of excuses. Sometimes we get away with it because as adults, we are in charge of our lives and we make judgement calls. Like if the sink is full of unwashed dishes – as an adult, you can say, so what.
Another dimensional challenge is, as an adult, you are supposed to take responsibility. However, responsibility means different things to different people and some of us might not have yet learn what responsibilities really means. When you are young, your parents and teachers tell you what to do, because you are under their care. As an adult, you are supposed to take care for yourself, so no one dares to tell you how you live your life any more, or if they did, you can certainly ignore them and hurl insults. Of course, life isn’t without boundaries, as partners can nag you and might even leave you if they had enough but ultimately can’t make you do chores. Judges can impose court orders but you might elect to pay the fine or even do jail time instead. So, it really comes down to a choice of what you fear or value more, doing chores or the other thing.
Perhaps due to this freedom of choice, lack of immediate consequences and teamed with a very lax understanding of responsibility, not surprisingly, most of us has chosen to prioritise fun first and then chores last. Then, after a while, we’ve came to realise those earlier judgement calls may not be for the best as our lives descend into disharmony and disarray – i.e. it finally has hit the fan. Most of us think we are smart, so then why do we demonstrated the complete opposite, by acting stupid, by making our lives more difficult in the long run. Save an hour today, only to spend 3 hours next week. The answer is really simple, we just don’t want to do the chores and we take the lowest path of resistance – i.e. the minimum amount of effort! We focus too much on the short term and disregarded the long term.
Take lawn mowing, a typical chore in suburbia. If you didn’t mow at all, the grass would get long and you’d likely to attract a complain and get a fine. If you didn’t mow every so often, the grass gets too long and then it becomes a lot more difficult to mow. Whilst you may have saved some time by the initial lack of effort, your future payment will be a lot more work/pain and/or a big contractor’s bill.
Yes, part of the problem is because we are lazy. Fundamentally, it’s really due to our lack of understanding of life in totality. In life, there is good and bad, so living means you enjoy the good times like having fun but as well as doing the unfun things like chores. There is no escape, it’s integral and fundamental. Having a nice house in suburbia means you need to mow the lawn. Having a nice cooked meal means there is going to be wash up. For some of the very rich, this concept is distorted because they are able to outsource all the unfun things but it too comes at a price, as their lives are distorted to a point where they reside in a bubble. For the poor, whilst seemingly you can’t afford to outsource but this is in no way better off, as we don’t tend to make the right decisions either.
Either way for rich or poor alike, the message is simple, don’t compartmentalise and focus only on the nice bits and forget the rest! Plan the fun parts as well as the boring parts, both are essential in your lives, to give you a true balance and perspective. So instead of just planning on your next holiday or dreaming of your next purchase, put some time into planning chores, then allocate time and take action to do them. By doing so, you make your life whole and avoid longer term pain/problems – the very essence of things holding you back from success right now. In another words, lighten your baggage – of thinking incorrectly and hanging onto stuffs holding you back.
Struggle Perpetual 