There are simply not enough hours in the day. The laundry never ends, getting bundled up to go to the gym in the cold winter months is unappealing, you have rescheduled that networking event 2 times already, and that book that you have been trying to finish is starting to collect dust on your bedside table. How do we not only fit it all into the hours of the day but also feel motivated to do so? Let me introduce you to one of my favorite hacks: temptation bundling.
Temptation bundling attempts to both save you time in your days and make the things that you do not want to do, but must do, a little more bearable. Have you thought about bringing your book with you to the gym to sit on the bike and read? Do you have to file your taxes? Do it at a coffee shop or another invigorating place. Bundle something that you do not want to do with something that brings you joy, aka the temptation.
I will not fold laundry unless I am able to catch up on my favorite shows while doing it. I do not go to the gym without my favorite book in hand. If I have to make appointments, I make the calls when I am on a walk at lunch. If I have to eat a nutritious food that I am not jazzed about, I find the ingredients that I do like to add to it (fresh lemon and salt and pepper on virtually any green vegetable is a win). Help simply your life, boost your mood, and increase your productivity through temptation bundling.
If our brain is only seeing the negatives or the dread of activities that we do not want to do, it is incredibly difficult to feel motivated in engaging with said activities. This even goes for individuals with high internal motivation. However, if we can tempt ourselves with something that sparks our interest, our brain can shift focus to that thing, and not pay as much attention to the pieces that were weighing us down.
Not only are we not noticing the negatives as much due to our attention shifting elsewhere, but we are actually also creating moments of joy in these tasks that used to be bleak. When we can feel joy, things feel more approachable and we also then have a more positive and balanced reflection of our time spent doing it. Approachability and joy are two great motivating forces, even if the task as a whole is still not sunshine and rainbows.
This is important because a big part of life is acknowledging that we have to do things that we simply do not want to do. Let’s be honest, a greasy burger sounds good more times than eating my brussel sprouts does. I would love to be able to have a healthy heart by sitting and doing a puzzle, and doing the dishes is the absolute bane of my existence but cooking at home with whole and unprocessed foods is better for both my mind and body.
Just because we do not want to do something does not mean that we should not do it and maturing is realizing that the right and healthy thing is not always the easiest or most exciting thing, and that we must motivate ourselves to engage in it regardless.
Additionally, what’s worse – changing my diet to support the longevity of my life or not making any changes (which would be easier) but losing precious years on this Earth? Making the changes now may seem like the harder option but I bet that the regret that we may have on our deathbed or the difficulty our families may face after we pass are truly the harder options in the end. So give yourself the opportunity to live the most successful, happy, and healthiest life possible (in whichever ways that looks like for you) and make that engagement as enjoyable as possible. If you have to do something, you might as well get the most out of it.
A few years ago, taking walks for my health seemed like the most BORING thing on the planet. I’m literally just supposed to walk, with no destination in sight, nothing to excite me, for an extended period of time? However, during the pandemic, I recognized that I really needed to increase my movement and walking outside was one of the most accessible and safest ways to do so. I consider myself as someone with high internal motivation but I really struggled to get up and make this change at first.
I started by talking with friends while on my walks, creating a playlist of my favorite songs, and taking my husband with and thought processing conversations/tasks that were on our to-do list. Making my daily movement as approachable as possible allowed me more ease in making it a habit. It becoming a habit, lead to it actually starting to become a natural part of my life. It becoming a natural part of my life, lead to me now averaging 10+ miles of walking a week and LOVING it – even without any bundled temptations.
More times than not, the lack of motivation that you are feeling is not because there is nothing to gain from the activity that you are dreading doing. You just have to give yourself the opportunity to see the benefit, which can definitely be difficult as change is hard and life can be exhausting. Be sure to be kind to yourself and find natural ways to fit these things in.
Giving yourself the space to fit these things is also the other major goal of temptation bundling. Even if an individual wanted to do all of their tasks in a day, there simply is not enough time. However, if you have an hour of your day to get something done, pairing multiple tasks together gives you two hours worth of productivity instead, but still within that same limited timeframe.
This was the other barrier that I felt I was facing with trying to fit in movement into my days. It was important, but I also had a million other important things to do. So what two important things could I do together to make sure that they both were prioritized?
It obviously would not be productive to try and do my taxes while walking or to pair a virtual doctor’s appointment with a walk in a public space and so keep in mind that the pairing has to make sense. You need to be able to actually successfully complete both tasks because picking things that would suffer from not having your full attention or resources just for the sake of crossing them off your list still provides you with nothing. Your days are limited, so get creative with how to make the most of those hours!
Lastly, it is also incredibly important to remember that carving out time for the things that bring you joy should not only be done in the context of saving time or being productive. Engaging in things that bring you joy, add excitement to your life, or are a calming refuge, deserve dedicated spaces to exist in your days for no other reasons than you simply want to and deserve to. We were not born to just work, pay bills, and die. The tasks that you engage in do not always need to be tied to a productive outcome. Life is short and you are more than your to-do list.
XOXO,
KC
Empowered Mental Health and Wellness 