Segmenting also works for large projects. Let’s say your apartment is a mess but you don’t have time to clean. Break the task into many small pieces. Walk around the apartment counting the pieces.
You are doing your step challenge in the process, so that’s good already. And maybe you are naming the parts of the apartment aloud in German (or whatever language you are learning). Three goals at once.
That’s what I call maximizing for time.
Make a list, draw a game board, decorate it if you are into that kind of thing. That’s art therapy plus meditation. Two more goals knocked out. Then sneak those bite-sized little pieces of cleaning into your day. Don’t clean your apartment. Clean the left side of the bathroom sink. And do it between other things like you are sneaking it in.
OK, OK, it’s not for everybody, I get it. But I got a lot of enthusiasm and actual requests on Anonymous Questions from people who want to know. If you are not into it, that’s fantastic. Read this as a glimpse into the lives of aliens from another galaxy.
Clarissa's Blog 
it’s been amazing to me to see how much of a habit putting things away as I go or cleaning up a little at a time has become. I feel actually uncomfortable now if there’s something on the counter that belongs in the trash or elsewhere. In fact I don’t usually put anything down if it belongs in the trash. I used to be completely oblivious to this type of thing before I developed my evening routine of cleaning up the kitchen.
Amanda
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I urgently need to get into this habit. I do it when I cook, cleaning as I go, but not in anything else.
Thank you, it’s a great suggestion for an area of improvement.
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This is… kind of how I teach my own kids to clean up. They just can’t look at a messy room and process cleaning the whole thing. It’s too much. So I’ve taught them a hierarchy of things to pick up, and we do it by category. Paper first, then laundry, then shoes, then books, then go with the biggest things and work your way down until it’s stuff you can sweep up. Then sweep, and rescue any important bits from the dust heap. The important thing is to have a starting point that isn’t overwhelming. Also, it’s how I do it myself– though my personal system is a bit more like yours: make a circuit of the house and pick up all the stray laundry. Later, make a circuit and reshelve books. Give the bath a quick scrub while I shower.
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…and most importantly, I do not keep a to-do list. I have deadlines marked on the calendar, and if it’s really important I send myself a reminder email that I’ll see in the morning.
But the key thing is a DONE list. I have a sheet of paper or a notebook, where I scribble down all the things I’ve accomplished, no matter how trivial. I either get a lot more done that way, or… I do the same things but now I don’t get to the end of the day feeling like I have done nothing. Hard to tell.
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This is the best advice. A “done” list is a game changer. Highly, highly recommended.
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Any advice of how to do this in the context of preexisting personal relationships with people who are not supportive of or outwardly dismissive of games?
are there good ways to surgarcoat/lie about these life hacks?
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You don’t have to tell anybody. Your only interlocutor in all this is yourself.
Or is there a specific situation that you are dealing with?
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Parents and spouse who make unkind comments about time spent in ways that they don’t approve of.
yes, one can lie to all these people. That’s probably the next step of neoliberalism.
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“make unkind comments about time spent in ways that they don’t approve of”
What kinds of comments? It’s hard to know what to say without knowing what you’re reacting to….
the main thing is to react in a way that removes strong emotions and indicate that you find the process helpful
Without knowing more…
“You know the old song ‘Whistle while you work’? this is my version of that.”
“This is my spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down” (if they have the cultural background to understand that).
“We all have our ways of getting things done.”
These have to be delivered with a kind of impersonal cheerfulness.
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They are verbalizing your own feelings. You think you don’t deserve having all this fun. You think you must make yourself small. They are only saying it aloud. Give yourself permission to be who you are.
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