I only left my apartment for about thirty seconds today, and that was in order to set out the garbage for pickup. If that and the fact that I ordered pizza for lunch were the only two things you knew about my day, you might be inclined to think that I’m lazy. A couple of years ago, I would have agreed.

I used to make a lot of effort to avoid hard work, but then right around the time that my wife and I welcomed our little girl into our family I changed. Somewhere along the line I realized that most tasks are less tasking (or at least less stressful) when I just do them right away. Suddenly, I wasn’t lazy anymore. I’m coming to genuinely enjoy working hard these days.

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned is that living in the moment, even during those typically boring times like washing dishes or hanging laundry out to dry, can actually be much more enjoyable than spacing out in front of a TV show or video game. I don’t mind working anymore, because it doesn’t have to feel like work.

There are often still moments of hesitation when I see dishes that need to be washed, but I’ve come up with a decent strategy for handling that. I just tell myself that I’ll only wash a few of the higher priority dishes and finish the rest later. What inevitably happens is that once I get started I never really find any need to stop before I’m completely finished. Once I get a little momentum going everything is fine. Maybe if I continue finding ways to get that starting momentum in other areas of my life, not only will I never become lazy again, but I might actually become worth all the messes I’ve made.