10 Goals I Can Accomplish in 15 Minutes

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For more in my Stop Procrastinating series, check out my post on Homemakers Challenge, called 5 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Start Doing!

Today I talk about goals. Specifically, those goals that I can get done in 15 minute increments.

Why 15 minutes?

Because I’m busy and have a lot on my plate.

I get distracted really easily.

I have 6 kids.

They need me often.

Many years ago, I tried out the Flylady method of cleaning my house. I couldn’t make myself do it completely the way she teaches, but one thing stood out that I grasped onto for years to come.

You can do anything for 15 minutes.

Have you ever really stopped to think about what that means? Anything?! Well, you can’t paint a WHOLE house in 15 minutes (or at least I can’t), but I can still paint a decent sized section of it. I need to stop measuring by the amount of work that I accomplish (i.e. whole house as opposed to a section of the house) and start measuring my successes and being happy because I actually accomplished something.

When I get overwhelmed, I freeze up. It’s like I’m in a drug induced stupor that confuses my brain and has me wondering where in the world to begin.

Do you do that?

I don’t know why I do that to myself. It’s usually not that complicated. I can break it down into little sections of work that aren’t too hard to get done and before I know it, I’ve made some significant progress. In fact, I’m going to show you 10 ideas of things I can get done that really shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes, unless of course, I let it.

Before I get started though, I should share with you a few tips that help you to get the most of your 15 minutes, should you choose to give it a try.

Always set a timer. If you don’t, you’ll either stop too soon or get too engrossed and work way too long, overwhelming yourself later.
Race against the clock. See how much you can get done in that 15 minutes. Work focused. If I know I’m only going to have to do something for 15 minutes, it doesn’t seem so bad to give it my all, to see how far I can get.
Try doing this with a friend. Either online or over the phone, letting each other know all the awesome work you were able to get done in that amount of time. If you can’t think of anyone to do this with you, you can always join in our Stop Procrastinating Group that we have on Facebook. We are currently scheduled to be doing this on Wednesday afternoons from 2-4 p.m. CT, but we’ve been known to post about something we’re working on anytime throughout the week, just for some motivation and camaraderie. It’s been a lot of fun!