Well, that’s exactly what we did last week. Sister-in-law came over to babysit so we could go out. We spent the day cleaning. We had been planning to anyway, but her arrival gave us a deadline.

No matter how hard I try, I don’t always find the self-motivation I need. Like I may set myself a deadline for a task, but deep down I know it’s a deadline that I have set. And I apparently don’t care so much about my own deadlines. But if someone else needs something, or I have company, or some other outside deadline, I will plan out my time to meet it.

So why do we have so much trouble with our own deadlines and motivation? I’m not sure, but I’m working on it.

In the meantime, I may just need a babysitter every week so hubby and I will attack the house together prior to their arrival.

Throw in childcare, housework, and errands, and I wonder when I’ll get it all done. It sure does make it easier to put things off. You know, that dirty little word that isn’t so little. Procrastination.

I was a horrible procrastinator as a kid. I had chores to do every day and I’d be finishing them up as mom walked in the door. Every day. And guess what? My daughter did that, too. Drove me nuts. My mom was probably snickering at me as I complained about it.

So how do I stop procrastinating? I have to have deadlines. But telling myself I have a deadline doesn’t work. It can’t be artificial. I have to be accountable to someone for it. Otherwise I’ll just keep pushing it back because I can.

I know, it’s something I need to work on a bit more. How can I make my own deadlines stick better? How do you handle a deadline that you know isn’t “real”?