Take five minutes. Just five. Set a timer. If you’re on the couch or in bed, look to see the closest surface to you. It’s probably the coffee table or your nightstand. For those five minutes, just focus on that one surface. Clear it off, throw stuff away, maybe even dust it. So when your five minutes is done and you’re back in bed, you have one clear surface to look at. You have an accomplishment to focus on. You did something. You don’t have to do everything. – Unf*** Your Habitat: The Depression/Messy House Cycle
Setting a timer to get started is a very motivating way to work. If the world is falling down around you (or feels like it) and you have what seems like three week’s worth of work to do in one afternoon, it can seem much easier to just hide in a comfy chair or the safe place inside the computer. That’s how it is to me anyway. Or sometimes you just honestly can’t be bothered.
Either way, try setting a timer for a small chunk of time, and promising yourself to concentrate on one area or one task for that amount of time. Merlin Mann calls this “Running a dash”
You might choose 2 minutes, or 5 minutes, or 11, or 15.
Once you get started (the laptop is put away, you’re on your feet, you’re doing things) it’s easier to keep going, just until the timer goes off. Then you can stop, and you’re ahead of where you were.
If you have a series of tasks to do, once you’re on a roll, you might want to alternate timed “working” blocks with timed “relaxing” blocks. You can do this anyway you like, of course.
The FlyLady’s “Crisis Cleaning” mode goes with 3 x 15 minute chunks, followed by a 15 minute break.
HabitHacker points out that if you work in 11 minute chunks, you can do two of those in a row and then an 8 minute break, and it adds up to a neat half-hour.
Pick a time that feels good to you and suits the time you have available. Work for that time. Stop for a cup of tea when the timer goes off. It’s as easy (and as difficult) as that.
Do you have one little thing that would make a big difference if you got it done? We often have these little things on our “quality of life” to do list! I have a giant toddler handprint on my living room window – I think I will get to it because it is terribly distracting!
and then kept on sitting on my butt reading through my feeds and stuff.
And then I Dream of Clean popped up on my page and asked
Nice!!! Should we hold you to it? Maybe, let us know when it’s complete? 🙂
Ohhhh busted.
So I got up and took a photo of my toddler besmudge’d window:
and got out my window cleaner and cleaned that window, and the other window.
And then, since I was standing up without my laptop, I couldn’t help but notice that there were a few…other…. issues with my living room. Seriously.
This is pretty typical – laundry baskets, neary-finished folded washing, train track to nowhere, cushions off the sofa, and books every-which way. What can I say, I have preschoolers!
But getting up and cleaning that one spot on one window totally gave me a burst of energy!
So I went with it. I set my timer for 11 minutes… turned on Dora The Explorer to distract wee Hank from further destruction… and by the time it went off, the living room was looking much better. I kicked some cleaning butt!
For reals, Tim just came upstairs and said “So clean!!!
Sure, the floor could use a vacuum and I have still got a planter box of weeds outside the window.
But it’s a heck of a lot better, and that is just fine with me.
A couple of years ago I had one of those Keep Calm and Carry on posters on my wall. I felt kind of cool for awhile, because I was ahead of the curve with it down here in the Antipodes (They’re all over the shops here now, along with those fake bus blinds. Welcome to 2008, New Zealand!) But after awhile its very presence on my wall started to stress me the heck out.
At the time I was just.getting.through.the.days with a major house renovation, a difficult pregnancy, my big girl starting school, and all the other usual dramas of family life, and somewhere along the line the poster’s admonition didn’t help.
Stop telling me what to do, poster!
But here’s the thing I found in the midst of it. If I got going and did something – anything – I’d have more go to do something else. Sitting in my armchair while the room grew dark around me, playing that damn whack-a-mole level of Plants Vs Zombies, was not an effective way of getting started on any endeavours, creative or practical.
If you improve your habits and put routines on autopilot, you’ll have more time for creative endeavors.
The art of habit leads to the habit of art.
Tim and I have found time and time again that if the kitchen is tidied, the living room floor isn’t covered in unfolded laundry and the books that Mr 18-months has ripped off the bookshelf (again) then we find ourselves magically Doing Things. Making jam, collage-ing stuff, sending out Postcrossing postcards, or doing some coding on some side-project of Great Awesomeness. Whereas if we’re sitting in a Living Room of Great Squalor after the kids are in bed, then we’re more likely to dive down the rabbithole of the Internets, or start playing dumb computer games without enjoying it or even really wanting to.
Does this make us tidy up immediately after dinner? Not always! But we’re trying, and it makes a difference. Baby steps down the hall, and all that.
How to get started, get excited, and do something:
Run a dash
9/10 productivity experts on the internet agree, timers are the way to go! Merlin Mann calls this Running a Dash:
My favorite tonic for procrastination—which I have mentioned in passing previously—is what I call a dash, which is simply a short burst of focused activity during which you force yourself to do nothing but work on the procrastinated item for a very short period of time—perhaps as little as just one minute. By breaking a few tiny pebbles off of your perceived monolith, you end up psyching yourself out of your stupor, as well as making much-needed progress on your overdue project. Neat, huh?
He online casino has some excellent techniques on how to do this. I particularly like how he suggests giving yourself two criteria for success: 10 minutes of picking up crap in your garage or one trash bag full, whichever comes first.
In order to be successful, we have to work hard, no matter what. We can’t always be at the mercy of our motivation.
I am lazy. But that’s okay, because I have some tricks for fooling myself into working, every single day. Actually, I’m quite productive thanks to these tricks.
What is it that you love to do? Which activities make you forget about time and put you in an enticing flow? That’s what you need to figure out, birdies!
Get those ideas out there, imperfect though they are
I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I’ve used up the last idea that’ll ever come to me. If you don’t wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don’t have the time or resources to do ’em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack.
No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you’ll get to later.
Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themselves of how perfectly that idea should be executed. And they imagine it on a beautiful platter with glitter and rose petals. And everyone’s clapping for them.
But the bummer is most ideas kinda suck when you do ’em. And no matter how much you plan, you still have to do something for the first time. And you’re almost guaranteed the first time you do something it’ll blow. But somebody who does something bad three times still has three times the experience of that other person who’s still dreaming of all the applause.
When I get an idea, even a bad one, I try to get it out into the world as fast as possible, ’cause I certainly don’t want to be addicted to brain crack.
Watch the video below for the inspiring speech. (Probably PG)
HomeRoutines is an essential app when it comes to managing your chores. The app is universal and is ideal for anyone. Chores are broken down by days of the week, but it doesn't end there. Each day is then broken down into morning and evening chores. The app includes a feature called "Focus Zones," which assigns certain rooms of your house to specific days for cleaning. The organization this app provides for a household is revolutionary and is well worth twice its price.
