GETTING THINGS DONE 5 MINUTES AT A TIME

THE POWER OF 5 MINUTES

So, today I wanted to talk about the practice of using 5 minutes to help you get things done.  It is possible to accomplish getting things done 5 minutes at a time. This method can be used for anything from sorting through bills, putting away laundry, decluttering a space, and pretty much anything there is that you need to get done.

This technique also works well to help you get moving on a project or task you have been procrastinating on.  Just telling yourself that you are just going to devote a small amount of time to get moving on it, can really help get you started.

Sometimes, we have so many things that we need to get done, that instead of doing something we do nothing.  It’s basically perfectionism telling us that since we can’t do it all, we just kind of give up and do none of it. We often need to remind ourselves that, even though we might not be able to get everything done, we are still much better off if we at least do something.

HOW TO USE 5 MINUTES TO GET THINGS DONE

In order to use this method, it’s a good idea to have a few things in mind that you would like to work on that you can make some progress on in 5 minutes. You don’t want to waste your 5 minutes thinking about what you should do! It is also not important to have identified only tasks that can be fully completed in 5 minutes.  You can work on anything that you can either complete or just make some progress on during your time.

Just because you cannot complete something, does not mean you should not take the time to at least get started on it.  Every little bit you do will move you closer to completion. For example, maybe you have some paperwork that has needing to be filed away.  Make a mental note of that, or put it wherever you like to keep your to-do list. If you are adding the item to your to-do list, you might want to separately identify things that you can work on for a short period of time. If you have 5 minutes to work with, you don’t want to waste time reading through a to-do list that has other things on it that couldn’t possibly be done in 5 minutes

SET A TIMER AND GET TO WORK!

Once you have identified what you want to work on, the next time you have 5 minutes available pick a task and go! Set a timer and get as much done as you can in five minutes. Using the example of having some paperwork to file.  Maybe you have a half-hour of reviewing and sorting to do.  So, during your 5 minutes, maybe you can review and file just two of the documents.  But now, that’s two less you have to do next time!

Make sure to acknowledge what you were able to accomplish in just 5 minutes, this will help you remember that it was worth taking the time to do this and make it more likely to do it again. It’s pretty amazing what progress you can make in just that short amount of time.

If you truly only have 5 minutes available, then make sure you stop once your timer goes off. However, if you have some extra available time and you were only using this to get yourself moving on something, you will often find that once you get going you will have the motivation to keep going and complete the task. Go ahead and continue if you have the time! But don’t burn yourself out.  You want to keep it a positive experience so that you will keep doing it.

FINDING THE TIME

As busy as we can be unless you are in an extreme situation, I think that it’s safe to say that we have 5 minutes here and there throughout the day that we could take advantage of to get a couple of things accomplished. We might not really acknowledge those small amounts of time because it doesn’t seem like enough time to accomplish much.  So, instead, we might do something less productive during that time.

One example that I often use is finding 5 minutes while you are cooking dinner.  Often there are times when you are waiting for water to boil, or for something to finish baking in the oven.  As long as whatever you are cooking is safe to leave unattended, take advantage of this time and get something done quickly.

EXAMPLES OF PROGESS YOU CAN MAKE IN 5 MINUTES

There are so many things that you can accomplish with just a small amount of time. Here are a few examples of things you can complete in about 5 minutes:

• Throw laundry in the wash or put away a load of clean clothes
• Load the dishwasher or put away some dishes
• Schedule a doctor’s appointment
• Go pull a few weeds
• Review your checking or credit card activity
• Pay a couple of bills
• Sweep the floor, wipe down the counters, dust some furniture
• Read a few pages of a book
• Do a little bit of prep for dinner
• Clean up your email

One of the good things about getting these little things done when you have 5 minutes, is that when you do have some more time available you can devote more of it to more time-consuming projects

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!