Today was the girls first day back to school-my first day alone in the house for over 2 weeks and my first time to get some much needed creative uninterrupted time for my design clients.
And I really needed it!
Although I really didn’t want to do work, I just wanted to bask in the quiet. I did a little. But not as much as I wanted.
But I did try something new. I needed to be able to get some things done—home things, general life things—as well as my client work.
So I devised this 15 minute plan that actually worked!
I would set my alarm for 15 minutes do a single task, or do a set of tasks.
It was kinda awesome.
I spent my first 15 minutes, listening to Kristianne Wargo‘s AWESOME podcast from today. It was short and provided so much for me to marinate on. If you do’t listen to her-DO NOW. But that marinating time is hard for me. I think the podcast was like 7 minutes so that left me with 8 minutes to think.
It was incredibly hard for me to just sit there with my thoughts and not be consumed by my list of To Do’s. But like all kinds of meditation…when your mind starts to wonder you have to wrangle it back in. Sometimes easier said then done.
Then I chose the easiest shortest client project for my next 15 minutes. Which was kinda the perfect amount of time for the task.
Next 15 minutes, a group of short tasks from my to do list—put in a load of laundry, set up the Instapot to make a batch of hard boiled eggs «my favorite recipe», walk around the house and pick-up a couple things while turning on all the smelly things I have «candle in the bathroom I’m trying to use up, a couple of diffuses». I was kinda amazed how much I could get done in 15 minutes.
Started another project for the next 15 minutes and then let that one sit for a next 15 minutes while I went onto another client project. It was really great. I didn’t get too bogged down in one design clients stuff «over thinking as I often times do».
It was really a productive day.
I even ran out and put checks into the bank, and purchase the items to start making a scoby «an utterly discussing looking gel organism-but such a cool bit of science» to start brewing my own kombucha «one of the many things on my Learn list for the year»
So the 15 minute plan worked until the Tiger came home from school and then all things were occupied by her: about her day «Jack found a dead mole on the playground-this was the number 1 thing», what to have for snack, 1st grade math homework, etc…
Then came picking up the Dragon as well as a rotisserie chicken «Earth Fare $5—a great deal», made a green bean side, bath night and bed.
All in all, I’m stickin’ with this 15 minute thing, from time to time maybe I’ll up it to 20 minutes «I’m getting crazy out here in the midwest». But it’s a pretty good average day system.
Do you have a system? I’d love to hear what works for you.
xoxo
