Do you have a list of things that you would like to do but feel you don’t have time for them? Feeling overwhelmed by the job jar?

Have you ever really looked at how much time it might take to accomplish some of these things?

What if you have 5 minutes?  What might you be able to do with that?  If you reframed your list to 5 minute tasks – would it help? What would it look like?

I had the pleasure of having a conversation with a friend this week about being overwhelmed by ‘all the things we need to do’.  It can paralyze, create anxiety, create the feeling of being buried.  We talked about how many things can take as little as 5 – 10 minutes and that if you commit to doing a 5 minute job, how easily you can move through the list. 

Spend a few minutes on the yoga mat or at the piano?  Scrub the toilet and sink?  Clean the shower while you finish enjoying one? Throw a load of laundry into the machine? Do a recipe search for a healthy dinner idea?  None of these take a lot of time, but added up can bog you down making you feel like it’s not possible to do it all. 

Breaking things down into smaller, manageable chunks, can free up your mind to tackle the things that you either really want to do – or the ones that you know require the extra time. 

After our discussion, I committed to cleaning up my desk.  It’s been a disaster zone forever, and clutters my mind as much as it clutters my work-space.  I timed myself and it took 12 minutes to find places for most things, shred a few things and create a calm.  Twelve minutes!  So, why have I put it off for so long?  Probably because I thought it was going to take longer than it did.

Five minutes.

LiveSplendidly!