I have a recurring task on weekends to get laundry done. We’ve been living in university apartments/dorms and the laundry room is downstairs. So, I rewarded myself with a “done” on laundry once I ran the clothes on the washer and dryer and brought them back home. After that, I’d pass the baton to the wife.
Over time, I realized my wife doesn’t enjoy folding clothes (I don’t mind it all that much). So, I began folding mine and passing her clothes over.
Now, just as additional background, our share of the housework is about 30%-70% in my eyes. Given our propensity to overestimate our own contribution, I think it might be closer to 20%-80%. So, a few weeks back, I made a small mental switch – I wouldn’t take laundry out of my task list until I’d folder all our clothes in.
My wife loves the new arrangement and I feel I’ve definitely notched up an extra 5% on the contribution index.
Was that switch hard to do? Absolutely not. It just required me to measure a task a different way.
So, why did I not measure it this way when I started? I just never gave it much thought.
It made for a profound lesson, though. Give careful thought to what you measure.. because the behavior you measure and reward is the behavior you get.
A Learning a Day 