I’m all about last week’s Tuesday Styles.  It was powerful (for me and my stuff, that’s for sure).

(We talked about having a new standard for the things we let hang around our physical space: Does this bring joy into my life?)

Just imagine: If each time you got dressed you get to be surrounded by only good, high value-to-you things. And, there would be good stuff all day long, too.

And I’m not just talking about your clothes anymore.

SNAFU!

But here’s the problem I’m currently experiencing…

Ask, “Does this add joy to my life?” 45 times, and the answer becomes:

“Crickets. Crickets.”

Because it becomes emotionally and mentally exhausting to register whether or not something adds value to you, and therefore really cannot be done for hours on end (like so many things).

So don’t (like I did) dive head-first into a closet of dust and skeletons.

Here is the plan of attack, revised.

Juicy, Juicy Carrots.

What’s better than 2 hours spent cleaning out the non-joy bringing items to your closet so that only good stuff is left? 2 hours spent cleaning the crap out AND a juicy, juicy carrot.

You and I are going to have to break this up into 20 minute intervals. Followed by juicy, juicy carrots.

You know, those juicy, juicy carrots that really get your tail moving.

I spend 20 minutes sorting through my clothes, and I just earned $5 of completely discretionary spending.

I spend 2 hours sorting, I’ve got $30 that I can do anything I want with. After a week of cleaning stuff out, I’ll have a couple hundred bucks to blow however I want to.

Le grande justification for monetary reward:

• Because, logistically speaking, you’re selling these clothes or donating them (tax deduction), which offsets this money you’re rewarding yourself with
• Because incentives and juicy, juicy carrots is how we get things done around here
• Because it’s freaking worth $5 to get moving on this — I cannot tell you how awesome and energizing it already feels to be underway with this.

It feels like I am important to me, that I respect me, and that I’m worth giving only the best stuff to… and you can feel like that no matter what crappy job you’re in right now.

And if you cannot afford the $5 per 20 minutes, ratchet the amount down to $1… OR, do something EVEN COOLER:

Pretend to give yourself $100 per 20 minutes, and then pretend to spend it.

This is very fun and feels pretty freaking real, like you’re spending hundreds of dollars. So cool, and you’ve actually spent $0.00.

Alllll of the bennies.

I had an interesting exchange on Twitter last week with a woman who seems cool. @Kinchie.  She said that:

I dangle lots of carrots in my world. Not only does it reward me, but it makes the things more meaningful.

She’s right. On the one hand, having the reward gets the task done (totally my issue), and on the other hand, the stuff you get as a result feels more like a treasure, and less like more crap.

Because this exercise is much more than seasonal cleaning — it’s reestablishing boundaries.

It’s raising the bar for what you allow in your life.

It’s raising the bar for what you’ll do (only things you love) in your work. And for who you’ll partner with.

Because you deserve things that bring you joy. And only those things.

What are your juicy carrots?

I want to hear about the stuff that you would (or do) give yourself to incentivize getting tough stuff done.

Tell me about stuff that works for you, that feels decadent and delicious and that gets you racing to clean the bathroom or do your taxes.

What are your juicy carrots? Your hot buttered success-inducers?

If you liked this post, take a look at these posts.

1. Tuesday Styles #4: Standards Edition
2. Tuesday Styles #6: Thursday, whip it good edition
3. Tuesday Styles #2: Coming Out of the Closet Edition