When Weh-Ming Cho decided to sell his snow blower with an internet ad, he received 1,400 offers. Cho wasn't just selling a snow blower. He was selling "A Tribute to Man's Triumph over Nature." Here is part of what he wrote:
"Do you like shoveling snow? Then stop reading this and go back to your pushups and granola because you are not someone that I want to talk to. This isn't some entry level snow blower that is just gonna move the snow two feet away. This is an 11 HP Briggs and Stratton machine of snow doom that will cut a 29-inch path of pure ecstasy. And it's only four years old. I dare you to find a harder working four-year-old. My niece is five and she gets tired and cranky after just a few minutes of shoveling. This guy just goes and goes and goes. You know how many speeds it has? Six forward and two reverse. It goes from leisurely slow up to light speed. Seriously, I've never gone further than five because it terrifies me."
A friend of mine, Troy, recently bought his own snow blower, a deluxe with heated handles. So I asked him how long it takes him to clear the snow. I figured about two minutes given that he has a modest driveway and little else. "About two hours," he replied. After he finished his own patch of concrete, he went and did his neighbors', and then his neighbor's neighbor and his neighbor's, neighbor's neighbor. On both sides of his house. And across the road.
During an especially snowy day, the first truly heavy snowfall of winter, I was crawling around an icy corner in my care, while a long stretch of sidewalk beside me was perfectly plowed. Rounding the corner, I found the reason personified. There he was, snow hurtling from the exhaust from his blower as he did his entire block, all being done with a smile.
Are these saints of the snow blower, helping their neighbors or just regular Joes doing what feels good? I think the latter. I can imagine the giddy thought they get when two feet of white powder falls overnight: "Mine, all mine."
It is an example of Fun Theory, that the pleasure of a task isn't static but can be manipulated with a little thought (or horsepower). Check out http://thefuntheory.com/. Fun Theory's mission is that "something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it's change for the better." With video examples showing how walking up the stairs to throwing away garbage can all be enjoyable, Fun Theory proves the principle that life can be made better. And if you like doing it, you are more likely to pursue it.
In science, we study how to manipulate the pleasure of tasks under the term "psychophysics." Here's an excerpt from my book, The Procrastination Equation:
"Boredom isn't inherently part of any job - anything can be made more exciting simply by how we treat it. Tom Sawyer, for example, managed to get the village boys to pay him for the privilege of whitewashing his Aunt Polly's picket fence. How? By insisting that they couldn't help and making them envy an unenviable chore. Fortunately, there are a few effective techniques for turning leaden tasks into golden ones."
So the next time you have some drudgery - some dreaded task - think of the common snow blower. Making things fun with the right attitude or the right equipment is one of the best ways to find the motivation and beat procrastination. See if you too can change your heavy heart-attack snow to snow that attacks your heart.
Looking for a fun book that informs? Take a peek at The Procrastination Equation. It is the perfect gift for last Christmas. Order your copy. Check out the reviews.
Have your procrastination assessed either online or with this complementary The Procrastination Quotient iPhone app.
