I post about this often, because it’s literally like a magic productivity booster! I am telling you, its amazing what you can do in 15 or 10 minutes! Even 5 minutes!!
Pick an amount of time and work with your timer! If you are feeling overwhelmed with everything you need to do, pick one spot in the house, pick some tunes to crank, set your timer for whatever amount seems reasonable, and GO!!
If you are stuck getting started on a task, like tackling the front hall clutter from a busy week…ugh!! Look at this mess…set the timer and get to work!
I mean, there’s hockey stuff, shoes galore, coats, papers, other sports equipment, even pet stuff! Sheesh!
It’s time to get moving!
I personally love 15 minute blocks with my timer, but do whatever it is you can do. If 10 works, do that! If 5 is all you got, totally fine! It really is amazing how much you can accomplish when you solely focus on ONE task! If you give yourself too much time, you might let yourself get distracted after you start, so don’t do any more time than 15 minutes. Even when I am speed cleaning/tidying, I like to break it down into 5 minute blocks in my mind. So I think, 5 minutes to tidy (quick tossing of garbage, recyclables, or collecting stuff for other areas of the house), 5 minutes to organize (put things back to where they belong), 5 minutes to clean (vacuuming, dusting etc).
My task, is to reset this front hall! Including vacuuming the rug and putting away as many things as I can. Anytime I am tackling a timer-job like this I like to include one dream goal. I know my time is short, but the dream goal would be something extra I could do with the space if time permits. This time it is to wipe down the bench, the wall behind it, and the door!
I set my timer for 15 minutes, I asked Alexa to play some pump me up songs, I grabbed a bag (for garbage), a bin (for quick tossing of recyclables), and got cracking!
The key when working with a timer is that you need to forego perfection. I mean you only have 15 minutes! Or 10, or even 5!! The goal is to work as hard as you can, as fast as you can! Go for the big impact stuff. If at the end of the timer things still aren’t perfect, that’s ok! That’s not the goal…this time!
So, here it is. The “after 15 minutes”:
There’s still more that I needed to sort, and there’s still a few things I have to find more permanent homes for, but it feels pretty good now! I can breath in this space!
I am sure that I could have easily wasted 15 minutes on social media, but I feel so much better putting in the 15 minutes tidying the front hall! Now it’s ready for the dumping of the day when the kids get home…ugh!
I guarantee you will be 1000x more productive tackling your spaces with a timer, than working away bit by bit all day!
Well I am off with my timer to tackle another space!
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