10 Minutes Ten Times A Day

I will not pretend that I came up with this idea all by myself, because that would be a total lie...I looked up the easiest and laziest way to get my life and tiny 900 square foot, two bed/bath and more crap that I just "had to have" and have no place(storages are full...yes...there are two, a 5x10 and a 10x10, and that is all we need)to put it all, so I have decided to do some organizing. However, the first thing I need to organize is the space between my ears! If that is confused and cluttered, then my home will remain that way as well.

1. Declutter your head!

Anyone who knows me understands that I am very adult ADD. I have 22 projects going at all times, and I am the ever wonderful tinkerbell of organization...flit over here and sprinkle a little fairy dust, flit over there and do the same, but somehow I never get all the dust finished...so there are neat little piles of "dust" everywhere. So recently I decided that I HAD to get things in order, because I recently became retired after 12 years of working due to an injury sustained at work and am unable to continue to do my job in the manner requested of me. I am very lucky to be married to an engineering marvel who makes plenty enough money to sustain our monthly bills and also be able to continue to build a nest egg for the future home we will be purchasing and moving to in about 10 years. I am excited about my new found plan to begin organizing myself and my home. It starts with how you see the mess. I was walking into the front bedroom that is currently under construction, with the "oh god, I just can't even" attitude, until I ran across several articles on how to think in 10 minute increments. It starts with me sitting in the room for 10 minutes and just sitting there, not thinking about how hard this is going to be, but retraining my brain to look at the big picture. The thought is "what can I do in here in 10 minutes"? then I go to work!

2. Time It.

Once I get my headspace right and ready, I literally just set my watch timer for ten minutes! then I begin working on whatever corner I have chosen for that ten minutes and work it until the timer goes off. Once the timer has gone off, I stop! Nomatter how far I have gotten, I stop! Then if I decide I want to continue, I set the timer again and continue doing this until I am finished with the current ten minute increment and decide to stop for the day, or I can choose to keep going. The point of this exercise, is to help you not feel so overwhelmed by the task. It works! I love this system.

3. Take your time

This is not a marathon, these exercises are meant to take away the stress related to organizing and it actually becomes challenging and fun after a while, your less stressed out by it and before you know it, you are looking at a beautiful finished project! I also am looking at remodeling and beautifying my apartment for maximum comfort until we make said move. I really don't hate our apartment, but it is definitely outdated by a few decades, and it's stuffy and just plain icky.

4. One project at a time.

You will need to stay focused on the project your doing. This will also keep your monkey brain from jumping from one thing to another, and pretty soon your back to square one. I have a "Future Projects" list on my computer. You will want to make the list reflect the projects that are most important first, and then number them in the order your going to get them done. I will only make a list of 5 at a time so as not to feel overwhelmed by a long visual list of things needing to be accomplised, and as I get one done, I delete it, and add the next thing to bottom of the list. I promise that you will love this system, it works amazing.

5. Take days off.

I will not do ANYTHING on the weekends, that is my time for me, family, friends and my husband. If you are working especially because most folks do not want to come home from work and do stinking project. I would suggest actually doing 10 minutes of the project, then stopping for at least 15 (set a timer) to break and smoke whatever you smoke, get a hot cup of coffee or cold beer, a shot of whiskey, cold glass of milk, or whatever does it for you, that thing that makes you say "ahhh, I needed that", this is going to help you relax your body and mind some, then go back to it or don't...totally up to you, but at least you did something! so that's it, that is how I am doing it. Hopefully this helps you as it has me, and good luck in future endeavors!