What I just said to myself as I was finally about to step out the door of my house to go to my office at 1pm.

I was having a nice casual, do a little work on the laptop, try on some clothes to see what fits my pregnant belly, fix some food, catch up with friends, check back on my emails, doddle around kind of day.  I finally got my shit together and was ready to head out the door when I realized I hadn’t done one dish.  There were breakfast, lunch, and beverage remnants scattered across the counter and in the sink.

My partner is out of town so really I could easily slack off and leave them dirty without anyone getting on my case.  He is a bit of a neat freak about my kitchen messes.   Like, I think I have cleaned up after myself well and he will be like um did you not see these splatters over here?!  Oops!  Ha! Anyways I could of easily left the dishes until tonight.

But, in the split second of glancing at them with bags and keys in hand I told myself, “Just do the fucking dishes.”  Because we all know that when I get home later tonight, I am only going to be more tired, more resistant, and those dishes are going to be harder to clean.

And what is going to be better to come home to?  A house with dirty dishes taking over the counters, making it more of a challenge for me to prepare and delay dinner?  Or a tidy, inviting kitchen.

So I put down my bags and did those dirty dishes!  It took me maybe three minutes! Donezo!  Isn’t it hilarious how we love to make such a big deal about and delay things over and over that really will only take a few minutes to do?

So, why am I sharing with you an incredibly inspiring and riveting story about doing my dishes?  Because there are so many things in life that we put off!  Because we don’t want to do them!  Or we make up it will take too much time.  It won’t be fun.  It is not our favorite thing.  We stopped doing it, and don’t know how to jump back in… blah, blah, blah.  Shitty excuses.

You likely know that one of my favorite sayings is:

It is very much about making sure you are actually doing what YOU want and not what society, friends, media, others, your upbringing says you SHOULD do.

But!  It is also a good way to get out of your own way to get shit done!

Do I love doing dishes?  Is it my favorite thing ever?  No.  It feels like more of a should.  That is how it often shows up in our lives.  I should do the dishes.  I am not jumping at the chance to do dishes like it is my dream come true.

This is where you can use the Fuck the Shoulds, Do the Wants phrase to break it down to make it something you want to do.  Which then changes your energy and approach to getting it done.   Like so…

Do I want to do the dishes?                                                                          NO
Do I want to have a clean kitchen?                                                               YES
Do I want to have stinky, gross dishes waiting for me later?                         NO
Do I want to do the dishes?                                                                          YES!

Breaking it down this way makes doing the dishes (enter any chore/task you put off) turn from a heavy UGGGGHHH should, to an I WANT to get this done!  My energy shifts.  It cuts out procrastination.  It makes me feel like I am in charge of my life.  Where as shoulds feel heavy and like you are a servant to your own life.

Of course you could also break these things down and still be like, yep don’t want to do it.  Then, you can delegate it to someone else.  But, breaking down the shoulds will help you to get it done and put you in control.

Fuck those Shoulds!  Do the wants!

What are you going to go tackle right now?

And for more about why I despise the word should, check out this video I made a few years back.

And for another way to remind yourself of this always and always…..It’s not just for wine!