Take “Commercial Breaks”

The most powerful battery-charger is an activity call “commercial breaks.” This is an intervention for people whose homes are in disarray and who are depressed about living in a messy place. During the space of one commercial break on the TV, you can start making a less depressing environment.

1.      Look around you and see the things you wish were done but that you do not want to do.

2.      Make a list. It will only take a few moments to write down a list of things you see: dishes on the table, newspaper on the floor, laundry to be folded, shoes and socks strewn across the living room, papers to be filed, bills to be pay, and so on.

3.      Then, as you watch TV, every time a commercial comes on, start one of the things on the list, doing it only for as long as the commercial break continues.  Then flop down and watch the show until the next break, when you will get up and do something for those 3 or so minutes. Follow that pattern until the whole task is done, cross it off the list, and then go on to the next one.

4.      If you are really tired, do this just during one show and then sit for the entirely of next one, or the next several.

You will be amazed at how much you can get done in one evening of watching TV.