Motivated ... Or Was He Pushed?

Come next Monday (27/05), at 4:00 PM, I will be enduring the most despised and invasive intrusion known to all Renter-kind: THE PROPERTY INSPECTION!!!!

Alright, so maybe it isn't QUITE that bad. Obviously, if you haven’t been putting your fist, furniture or flatmates through the windows and/or walls; haven’t dug up the carpet to see if you can see what’s happening the floor below you; or tried your mural skills on the ceiling and doors, then you really don’t have that much to worry about. However, I won’t deny that it is kind of like the property equivalent of looking into your rear-view mirror and finding that you have a Police car tailing you: you know you aren't doing anything illegal, because this is how you've always driven … but what if you've subconsciously picked up bad habits that you are unaware of? However, this 500 isn't about subliminal tortures, but motivations.

Anyone that knows me, or has chatted with me over the previous months, knows that I have been in a constant state of intimidation: I've been threatening to give my flat a decent going over and have a massive Spring Clean (either 6 months too early, or six too late … more than likely the latter!) But when I've had the opportunity to, I've simply lacked the motivation, the will, or the desire to jump in and get it done. Whilst I do only live in a one bedroom flat, by myself (no flatmates bouncing off or through the walls for me, mores the pity … or not!), my usual excuse is that it is filled with extraneous goods from my previous flat which was a two bedroom flat, where the second bedroom was more a storage (read: junk) room. Despite all this, it wasn't until I received a two week warning that I was to be subjected to a legal home invasion by the real estate agency. Even then, I still wasted the first week. Of course, last week, I had the full week to myself, only working on the weekends. This week, I've got a full week of work, so can only entomb myself within the task in the late afternoons and evenings.

Unfortunately, this has been a recurring theme for most of my life. I either wait until the last minute before delving into a task (better known as ‘cramming’, when I was at school), or it takes negative motivation to get me moving: said property inspection being a prime case. Other examples include bills and credit cards! Rather than save the money for the sake of saving (and investing) which is such a vague and hazy goal, I'm generally much better if I'm paying down a bill or working on a credit card. There is a definite and ‘real’ end to the budgeting, something that you can fixate on, and that is a tangible conclusion to the period, be it a few months or many years.

As I write this, several solutions have popped into my mind, with the overall gist being: I need to clarify my vagues!