Doing the Dishes Can Help You Become a Better Achiever
And there is a science behind it
I know you are rolling your eyes.
But it is true.
I will not go all out and say I love washing dishes and that I look forward to doing it, but I have observed that once I start the act, I am all consumed and I keep doing it till the end, without feeling the mundanity of the thing.
I like seeing the metamorphosis of haphazardly placed and dirty dishes in the sink into neatly stacked and clean ones in the rack. I feel satisfied and contended seeing the heap of vessels I have cleaned. I like to feel the foamy lather of the soap and watch it washing away all the food particles, rendering it the cleanliness I like.
I was never able to put a finger on what was it that made me feel likewise.
Until I stumbled across an article that defined the feeling.
The Science Behind it
According to an article in Time Magazine, some researchers at Florida State University did a study on 51 students. They were divided into two groups. While one group was given to read a short passage of mindfulness before doing the dishes and the other was asked to read a simple passage on dishwashing. An excerpt of the mindfulness passage read:
“While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes. This means that while washing the dishes one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes. At first glance, that might seem a little silly. Why put so much stress on a simple thing? But that’s precisely the point. The fact that I am standing there and washing is a wondrous reality. I’m being completely myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions. There’s no way I can be tossed around mindlessly like a bottle slapped here and there on the waves.”
Researchers found that whereas the first group that had read the mindfulness passage before doing the exercise was doing the exercise with full awareness and upped their feelings of inspiration by 25% and lowered their nervousness levels by 27%.
Now, that got me intrigued. How can a simple act of doing dishes affect my mind? I had to dig deeper.
In his most acclaimed book, The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh, a great Vietnamese Buddhist Zen master, sheds light on the impact of such mundane activities on the human mind. He emphasizes the importance of being in the present.
“… Then how are we to practice mindfulness? My answer is: keep the attention focused on the work, be alert and ready to handle ably and intelligently any situation which may arise — this is mindfulness”. If you substitute “work” with “breath” in the answer above, you will immediately get a sense of the practice of mindfulness. Within these chapters, Thay gives many examples of mindfulness of breath meditation.
Having gained some insight, I look back and relate to everything.
How Will Washing Dishes Make Me a Better Achiever?
1.A sense of achievement
When the dishes move entirely from the sink to the rack I have a sense of having sorted something; a diluted feeling of having achieved something good. It is like a small trigger that goes to my brain saying ‘I can do it’.
Takeaway:
Our mind requires motivation in small doses all the time. According to Ralph Ryback in Psychology today,
“The satisfaction of ticking off a small task is linked with a flood of dopamine. Each time your brain gets a whiff of this rewarding neurotransmitter, it will want you to repeat the associated behavior”
And every time the brain tastes this, it would want more of it. So it translates into actions leading to completing a task and relishing this feel-good emotion of achieving that.
2. Control over things
Everyone is repulsed by the scene of a sinkful of dirty dishes many times. Sometimes, the brain finds the easiest route to resolve that — not to do it. And one thing leads to another and one loses control over other associated chores as well, like cooking.
Doing the dishes not only gives me the message-I am in control of things, but it also prevents me from feeling daunted by other factors. Rather than letting them change my course, I tend to think about ways to tackle them.
Takeaway:
In our jam-packed schedules losing control is quite easy, leading to feelings of anxiety and overwhelmedness.
Alicia H. Clark, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and author of Hack Your Anxiety: How to Make Anxiety Work for You, in Life, Love, and All That You Do talks about how she advises her patients to do cleaning exercises. She goes on to explain that doing these things give us a feeling of control over things, which when practiced consciously, reflects on other aspects of our lives.
3. Deal with procrastination
In order to avoid a pile of dishes, the best way I have figured out is to sneak in some time and just do a bit of it. This avoids falling into the procrastination trap once it appears too much to handle.
Takeaway:
Rather than viewing every task in its entirety, it can be broken down into smaller parts, doable one at a time. I use it in every phase of my life; be it cooking, managing the house chores, or at the office. I have a ‘sinkful of jobs’ and pick a bit and do it whenever I can.
4. Just start; end eventually follows
The toughest part of a job is starting it. Everyone agrees to this. But, I have observed that if I just clean one dish, I end up cleaning the whole lot. It seems like an orchestrated act my mind and body follow.
Takeaway:
Who doesn’t relate to the pain of starting. Like Kendra Evin says in Psychology Today, it happens because of a mental leap that can sometimes be challenging: forcing ourselves to disconnect from what we are doing right now (which might be enjoyable) and do something that, at least initially, may not be enjoyable. Cutting the long story short —
You have to do that first dish.
I have conditioned my brain into linking every job to this simple act of washing dishes which may look so daunting but is sorted once you start with the first dish.
5. Increased mindfulness
Washing dishes engages a lot of senses- the temperature of the water, the smell of the soap, touching and seeing the dishes.
Takeaway:
Just as Thich Nhat Hanh has claimed, it is a conscious way to train the mind to be in the present. Going by the Buddhist zen beliefs, like muscle memory, the mind can be trained to behave in a certain way.
Today there is no debate over the effect of mindfulness on the outcome of a desired effect. Social relationships to corporate engagements, everyone is aware of the significance of ‘being there’. It not only increases the focus on the task but also brings about better problem-solving environments.
Final Thoughts
I see doing my dishes as a proxy to meditation.
This is precisely my state of mind when I do it. It is amazing how such a mundane job can affect our mindfulness and can condition our minds to be in the present.
Doing the dishes has acquired a new meaning for me.
Every moment in our lives gives us the opportunity to be mindful of it. It might be while doing dishes, having your lunch, or making an action plan for your project. And every time we are doing it with more awareness, we are enhancing the level of focus to that. That can only result in a better outcome.
Today, when we are constantly surrounded by challenges and trying times, we can always do with a little more calmness within us.
So, next time you need to de-stress yourself, don’t go to a massage parlor; do the dishes rather.
