By Stacey Colino The Washington Post

When it comes to keeping a clean and tidy home, some people take pride in the results of their efforts. Others enjoy specific chores, such as vacuuming or doing the dishes. Then there are those who grit their teeth and suffer through these tasks – or put them off as long as they can.

Why do some people find it so hard to motivate themselves to keep their house organized and clean?

Research has found that hesitation and indecision are among the biggest impediments to dealing with household clutter. And if you give in to this indecisiveness or hesitation, clutter and disorder can lead to even more indecision and procrastination, creating an unhappy self-perpetuating cycle.

“If you have a chaotic home environment where things are in the way or in different places from day to day, it’s much harder to form habits that work for you because you’ll have to think about something that should be much easier. ,” says Wendy Wood, professor emeritus of psychology and business at the University of Southern California and author of Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick. “Good habits are more likely to develop if we create an environment at home to facilitate daily habits.”

Indeed, one of the best strategies for taking control of home maintenance is to automate cleaning and tidying so you don’t have to think about it. Another is to use some of the principles behind the science of behavior change to essentially train yourself to do housework with ease.

Here’s how:

Arm yourself with the right things

Create a kit with cleaning solutions, sponges, dusters, brushes, microfiber cloths, and whatever else you need and keep it in a designated place, says Patric Richardson, Minnesota-based laundry and cleaning expert and author of ” House Love”. : A cheerful guide to cleaning, organizing, and loving the home you’re in.” “Having the right tools and knowing how to use them makes the process easier and faster.”

Create an action plan

“We generally accomplish our goals when we have a concrete plan instead of a vague intention,” says researcher Katy Milkman, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of How to Change: The Science of Getting Where You Are to where you want to be.” “If you break a goal down into bite-sized components, it’s more approachable.”

So instead of deciding to clean your entire house on a given day, focus on one room at a time or even one task at a time (like cleaning and organizing a kitchen drawer or closet). “If you do something for instant success, you’ll feel competent, and often the momentum will take over, making the tasks less onerous,” says Wendy Grolnick, professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and co-author of the book “Motivation Myth Busters: Science-Based Strategies to Boost Motivation in Yourself and Others.”

Connect the appropriate behaviors

It’s about creating “implementation intentions,” which spell out when, where, and how what you’ll do to keep your house in order. Research has shown that implementation intentions help people stick to their goals and reinforce the habits they are trying to develop. As James Clear noted in his book Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, “Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity… ( about) when and where to take action. .”

Implementation intentions solve this problem by creating cues that trigger a specific action on your part, Grolnick says. That way, “you eliminate the indecision about how you’re going to proceed,” she adds. To this end, it helps to come up with if-then statements: If ____ happens, then I ____. Some examples: If I get out of bed, I’ll make it right away. If I walk into a room and see things on the floor, then I will pick them up. If I’m done with work for the day, then I’ll tidy up my office before I leave my home office.

Similarly, you can engage in what is often called stacking or piggybacking – linking an action you want to take with something you already do regularly. That way, you won’t have to set aside time to do that extra task. For example, you can make the connection between preparing the dishes and cleaning the table after the meal. Or wiping down the bathroom sink to brush your teeth. Or emptying all the trash cans in the house to take the trash out on pickup day. When you let one action become the cue for another, it increases the chances that the new action will eventually become automatic, Grolnick says.

Create a specific time frame

Once you’ve identified certain tasks, decide how much time you’ll spend on them. If you want to overhaul your closet, you can dedicate 10 minutes each day to different aspects of the task: cleaning the floor and dusting shelves and rods, organizing clothes, and assembling a pile of donations.

Or, let’s say you have people coming. You can quickly spruce up your living room with “a 10-minute cleanup,” says Richardson. Set a timer and go into high-energy mode: put anything that doesn’t belong in the living room into a laundry basket (which you can hide in another room), use a damp microfiber cloth to dust tables and lamps, vacuum or sweep the floor, straighten what’s on the coffee table, then stuff the couch cushions. Think of it this way: “You can do anything for 10 minutes,” says Richardson.

Make the process more enjoyable

If you dread doing a chore that needs to be done, a strategy called “temptation bundling” can help, says Milkman. The idea is to let yourself engage in a particular pleasure just while you’re doing the work, to help make it a habit. If you need to fold laundry or clean the kitchen, you can listen to your favorite podcast, watch a TV show, or have a phone meeting with a close friend while you do it. Or, you can treat yourself to a special snack or drink while you work. “The simultaneity helps give you instant gratification,” says Milkman.

Similarly, Richardson recommends preparing to be comfortable—wearing fun shoes or comfortable clothes—while cleaning. Or buy really good-smelling dish soap: “I think doing your dishes is like going to a spa,” he says. “It’s warm and steamy and smells good.”

Be careful about the benefits you reap

Take a moment every now and then to appreciate how easy it is to find what you’re looking for when you consistently put items in the same place. “Habits simplify our daily lives,” says Wood. Also, notice how much more relaxed you feel when you’re freed from the visual stress of looking at piles of mail, newspapers, and other clutter. Giving yourself these benefits of being more organized and tidy will make you positively reinforce these newly improved habits.