Don’t you love my title?
I could have said Thin Thighs in 30-Days but I didn’t want to set anyone up for disappointment. It also didn’t seem fair to steal sales from all those magazines that proclaim that very thing.
I could have used 50-Ways to Leave Your Lover, but it seems Mr. Simon already covered that topic.
Besides I wanted to tell the truth in my title, and this title is a certifiable fact.
If you set your time for 14-minutes, I guaran-damn-tee to deliver something amazing.
Ready?
Pick a project; a dishevelled desk, a catastrophic cutlery drawer, a groaning glove box, a bulging briefcase, littered and languishing laundry or a sabotaged sock sack…I don’t care what it is, or how long you’ve avoided this mess…it’s now time.
You are about to take back your life and it’s only going to take 14-minutes to face it.
Hit start on the timer. Dump the mess out of the drawer. Put back only the essential and beautiful. Donate or dump the rest. Listen to the ding-ding of the timer. (Try not to think about how much of your life you’ve wasted in avoiding this project. Especially now that you know that you took control of the whole mess in a mere 14-minutes).
Slide that dramatically different drawer closed. I know you’ll probably want to slip it open again to gaze upon your handiwork. I understand.
Go ahead and smile.
Smile the smile of the smugly satisfied.
This stuff works. Take control of any little part of your life and a wondrous sense of heady control seeps into everything else. Suddenly life is less overwhelming.
If you don’t have anything to organize or clean in your life (really??) then use that same timer to sit. Sit and breathe and watch your thoughts come and go. Some call this mindfulness meditation. I don’t care what you call it. Just shut your eyes, stay quiet and wait for that ding-ding (here’s a link to a great article with basic steps on how to meditate).
Don’t want to sit? Take a 14-minute brisk walk.
Don’t want to walk? Do 14-minutes of weights.
Don’t want to do weights? Do 14-minutes of downward dogs.
By now it’s obvious right?
Every day, all you have to do is take 14-minutes to tackle something that you’ve been avoiding, and, just as I promised in this oh-so-catchy title, you will discover…
It only takes 14-minutes to transform your life!
Pretty cool, eh?
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I’ve been working through the chaos of my photo files from 2010 to 2013 . I CAN NOT believe the mess. What was I thinking just dumping them in like that? And then to transfer the mess to a bigger EHD? Mess x2.
Having the kitchen timer show the remaining minutes is a big help when the retired husband is nagging: ” How much longer …?”
Do not Disturb.
Heidi
OMG Heidi…true confession time! My photos, both digital and material, are an absolute gong show. I’ve decided to start by chipping away on the 14-minute plan with the bins of photo albums. I’ve reduced one bin (1978-1985) of albums; it now fills two-thirds of a shoe box with photos.
I have at least nine or ten more bins to go (Insert dramatic sigh here!).
And then, and only then, can I start to address the mess of digital.
I can only face all this in incremental bites. If I thought of all this as a project I had to attack in one go, I think I’d go screaming into the night.
Do not disturb indeed!
Okay, you’ve inspired me to clean my desk.
Go Carol! Maybe you can do some thigh exercises at the same time 🙂
Love the way you write, as always… absolutely aspirational alliteration, darling. We have been trying out this new tiny-bite methodology with exercise, housecleaning, chores, etc. and it seems to be going quite well. However, the great big box (12″ x 24″ x 14″) lurking right behind me in the office has indeed fended me off with a good flexing bulge. Will I ever get the nerve?
Glad you enjoyed my alliterative aptitude. I was trying my very hardest to do my very best. Ha!
What is the big box you’re referring to? You have me puzzled on that one. Do disclose dammit (she finishes triumphantly with a triple-D alliterative slam-dunk!)
I think I’ll use my 14 minutes a day to read more of your well written, amusing and helpful articles! …unless, the meditation article you posted takes precedence. Of course, I could meditate on any number of your past topics…like Dance Lessons in Life (to name a favorite). Thank you for putting it out there!
Darling Dee Dot. You are the queen of the chunk-of-time management. I’ve seen you blitz all manner of things into tidy little boxed up orderly rows!
Thanks for checking in.
Do let me know if the meditation article grabs you. I liked their easy-peasy how-to list. Some sites over-complicate the whole process…
Great tips, as always! I think the hardest part is starting! I like the analogy of “eating an elephant.” Where do you start? Start with one bite. Then another. IF you think about how BIG that elephant is, you won’t even take one bite! Seems hopeless, right? But one bite after another, you’ll finish.
We are in the process of downsizing so this is such good advice. We say there isn’t enough time in the day, but yet, I find hours a day to sit and watch TV. Pull out that drawer and put it on the floor in front of the TV if you must– bit by bit, we’re getting there, too. !
That elephant doesn’t sound very tasty at all! It’d be a pretty chewy snack Gwen!
Glad you can incorporate a little Downton Abbey (or whatever else you’re hooked on 🙂 and a drawer or two. It is quite amazing what doesn’t make the cut once you start this process. I keep doing these little blitzes on our apartment and am finding a few extra inches every time. Love that!