We can make the task as easy as possible. We do that by removing the biggest obstacle for anything getting done. David Allen, creator of GTD, has often remarked at how thought is the antithesis of work. The more we think about doing something, the more excuses we have to not do it. So if you want to get people to do their chores, remove that obstacles. Here are 5 steps I've used in the past to do just that:

1. Think of what tools are needed, and buy them ahead of time. Not having the tools for the job is the easiest excuse. One of my peeves is my roomies leaving water all over the bathroom sink. Once I started buying paper towels and making sure they were right there, people started wiping up after themselves. Which leads me to...

2. Place those tools right at the scene. If someone has to look for bottle of spray cleaner guess what, it's not getting clean. In each room I have the appropriate cleaners in a plainly visible and accessible place. They're never more than 5 steps from a mess.

3. Do any prep work you can ahead of time. Multiple steps is another mental block that can stop people from pitching in. If you want your wife to start dinner as soon as she gets home, try separating and labeling the vegetables, pasta and meat the night before. The more automated you can make the process the better. Along those lines remember to...

4. Break things down. Big, complicated tasks are intimidating. The smaller you can make the steps the more likely someone is to do the job. Instead of saying "Clean up the garage" list all the smaller tasks, from sweeping the floor to putting tools on the pegboard, that go into it. It's much easier to say "I don't have time to clean the garage tonight" than "I don't have time to sweep the floor."

5. Frequent accountability. Tasks need to be done on a daily basis and people need to be held accountable for doing them or it just won't stay in their heads. If your real goal is to have someone take out the trash once a week, try setting up a 'chore time' every night and schedule the garbage in for the right night. That way it's not something that sneaks up on them weekly, it's just another night.

Let me tell you my experience. I was unhappy at being the only one in the house to clean the bathroom and I knew that snide notes weren't going to help. The problem was that nothing else helped either. We'd all agree to clean it at certain times and then it would just go untouched until my turn came around. It was easier to clean it myself then police everyone.

Then I decided to make it as easy as possible to clean the bathroom. I bought all the supplies, I laid them out in the most convenient place possible and I broke down the cleaning process into 4 'micro-chores.' Then I asked everyone to do one micro-chore a day and initial it on a list I printed. It's an extra 30 seconds after you shower with no thought involved and our bathroom has been sparkling ever since.

So if you want someone to start picking up the slack, don't waste your energy confronting them. Use that energy to take all the thought out of the equation. I won't tell you that the extra steps are fair, but I will tell you that they work. Now it's up to you..

我們都希望在周二給草坪割草或扔垃圾，但是我們要么忘了要么是被其他事情擋住了。對(duì)最后要做這些事的人沒(méi)有安慰，但是這是事實(shí)。所以要讓那些我們愛(ài)的（或被迫容忍）結(jié)束這些家事，我們能做些什么呢？

我們可以使家事盡可能的簡(jiǎn)單。我們這樣做，消除手頭最棘手的。大衛(wèi)艾倫，GTD創(chuàng)作者 ，往往如何評(píng)論認(rèn)為是對(duì)立面的工作。我們?cè)绞窍胧虑椋�更借口，我們必須那么做。因此，如果您想要讓人們做家�?wù)，消除障礙。這里有5個(gè)步驟我用在過(guò)去做到這一點(diǎn)

1、想好我們需要哪些工具，并提前買好它們。不想做某項(xiàng)工作的最簡(jiǎn)單的理由就是我們沒(méi)有工具。我很厭煩室友弄得盥洗槽都是濕的而又不去擦拭，一旦我買好廁紙放在那里，他們就會(huì)在使用完水槽之后并擦干。這使得我……

2、把工具放在看得見(jiàn)的地方。如果他們需要尋找清潔工具來(lái)打掃衛(wèi)生，結(jié)果通常是房間不會(huì)被打掃干凈。因此每個(gè)房間我都在顯而易見(jiàn)的地方放上合適的清潔劑，那他們?cè)僖膊恍枰�用超過(guò)達(dá)5步來(lái)整理臟亂。

3、提前做好準(zhǔn)備工作。繁瑣的步驟是影響人們投入該件事的另一個(gè)心里障礙。如果你希望妻子一回家就把飯做好，那你應(yīng)該在頭天晚上把蔬菜、面食和肉分別準(zhǔn)備好。工序越自動(dòng)化，效果就越好。沿著這條思路，你要記得……

4、把事情拆散。大而復(fù)雜的任務(wù)讓人畏懼。步驟分得越細(xì)，事情越容易完成。例如把“打掃車庫(kù)”列為很多小的步驟，從打掃地板并把工具掛好開(kāi)始著手。你可能會(huì)說(shuō)：“今晚我沒(méi)有時(shí)間打掃車庫(kù)”，但“我沒(méi)有時(shí)間掃地”卻很難說(shuō)出口。

5、責(zé)任心。有些事情需要當(dāng)天就完成。人們需要有去做這件事情的責(zé)任感，或者他們根本就沒(méi)有想到過(guò)去做這件事情。如果你想要某個(gè)人一星期清理一次垃圾，你可以試著去簡(jiǎn)歷一個(gè)日常工作時(shí)間表，然后把清理垃圾這件事排在這個(gè)表里。這個(gè)方法就會(huì)讓人們認(rèn)為清理垃圾是預(yù)訂好了某天晚上的事情，而不會(huì)顯得一星期做一次很突然。

讓我告訴你我的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。我不喜歡成為我們屋里惟一一個(gè)打掃浴室人。我也知道我告訴別人這個(gè)理由，也不會(huì)有人理我。這個(gè)問(wèn)題也找不到其它的解決方法。我們商定好在固定的時(shí)候打掃。這樣直到該我打掃了，我發(fā)現(xiàn)又是我自己在打掃。這種情況下，我自己親自來(lái)打掃比麻煩其它人一起弄來(lái)得更簡(jiǎn)單。

接下來(lái)我就考慮如何才能更加簡(jiǎn)單方便的打掃浴室。我買好所有的必需品，把它們放在方便拿到的地方，然后把打掃的過(guò)程分為四小步。然后我把這些步驟打印出來(lái)，安排每個(gè)人一天做一小步。完成這一小步，只需大家洗澡后的30秒時(shí)間就可以完成。但是從此以后我們的浴室就非常干凈了。

因此如果你希望某人的惰性有所收斂，并不需要與他們正面沖突。而是把力氣用來(lái)思考怎樣解決這個(gè)關(guān)系。我的意思并不是指這些額外的步驟是不錯(cuò)的解決方法，但我可以告訴你們這些很有用。現(xiàn)在輪到你來(lái)處理了……