I have always been surprised when I actually start to do a list of things that have been piling up for a while (and that have no doubt been on my mind as a result) at how much I can get done in a little bit of time, contrary to the time I had estimated I needed to do it all, and I wanted to share an idea based around that with you today.
Getting your timing right…
The key to managing your time and getting the most out of each and every day is to understand 3 key things:-
- What you should be spending your time on
- How much time you have to do things
- How long things take you to do
If you know how long things take you to do, and you aren’t scared of taking that time to do them, then you can be so much more productive in your day.
Think for a moment – when was the last time you had a lengthy TO DO list of little things that you just had to get done, but they always fell off the days tasks as there just wasn’t time (really a full day would be great so you’ll wait until then….)?
How did you feel?
Having things on your mind weighs you down. You feel the burden of them and it can play on your mind.
It needn’t be like that at all.
Actually knowing that you can get a lot done in a little time is enlightening.
Have you ever timed your jobs?
Tasks actually tend to take a lot less time than you think you need, and you can really change your mood by getting all those little tasks out of the way, off your TO DO list and out of your mind.
So I wanted to challenge you today….
Welcome to the 15 minute challenge!
Set your timer (oven timer works perfectly!) for 15 minutes and get as many little tasks done as you can in that time.
Simple.
And there’s no excuses, as you can always find 15 minutes in your day (even if it means staying up a little later, or getting up slightly earlier – 15 minutes doesn’t really affect that much at all in the scheme of things).
It’s all about focus and speed – no more meandering or procrastinating – just getting things done and tackling things there and then.
It’s fast and furious but oh so worth it!
You will more than likely really surprise yourself in the process as to how much you can achieve in such a short space of time.
Example
I did this the other day as it was the end of a busy week and I had let a few things pile up as most of us do when things get busy – so here’s the list of what I managed to achieve in my 15 minutes:-
- Booked a doctors appointment
- Wrote 3 birthday cards ready to post in the week
- Sent a text to a friend I have been meaning to arrange a night out with for a while
- Sewed a strap back onto a nightshirt that I haven’t worn for a few months
- Decluttered my purse of all the receipts building up
- Added a couple of tradesmens details to my Home File for future use (I had the business cards in my diary).
Some of these tasks are tasks that I just hadn’t got round to in my day, others were tasks I had procrastinated about for far too long (my nightshirt was useless until I had fixed the strap and as such hadn’t been worn for months), and others were tasks that simply made life easier (decluttering my purse actually took less than 5 minutes but makes using it so much easier and I can now find what I need quickly instead of searching through a myriad of receipts and vouchers etc…).
I genuinely felt better at the end of the 15 minutes – both emotionally as I had got so much done that had been playing on my mind, and physically as I had got moving and hadn’t stopped.
I am now doing this 15 minute challenge each and every day…
and as a result I am starting to understand more and more that most little jobs really are little and don’t take all that much time to do.
I can stay on top of things more easily as the only things that stay on my TO DO list for any length of time are the longer/more involved jobs – so I can see the wood for the trees, so to speak.
My question for you today is – Will you join me?
I would love for you to take this challenge too, and see just how much you can get done in a little amount of time – why not set the timer now and see… – good luck x
