The Magic of 17 Minutes

I am a perfectionist, procrastinator, over-thinker, and easily distracted. I'm not always good about self-care, even though I realize its importance. Sometimes a task is so overwhelming that I can't bring myself to even start--our exercise room/scrapbooking room/office/place-to-put-anything-I-don't-want-to-put-away-or-take-to-the-basement, is an example of that right now.

Starting an overwhelming task--I only have to work on it for 17 minutes (I can accomplish quite a bit in that focused amount of time; sometimes I even keep going!)

Challenging myself to complete a task in 17 minutes--like folding laundry

Controlling overthinking--I was spending a ridiculous amount of time choosing the "perfect" graphic for this post, and finally set the timer so I HAD to make a decision.

Limiting distractions (chasing squirrels)--when the timer goes off I am reminded to get back to the original task. I've been texting my daughter Morgan this morning--have to check on my sweet grandson--and finally had to set the timer so we didn't chat all day!

Doing something I really don't want to do--like exercising. The series of workouts I'm doing (Caroline Girvan's Iron--weightlifting) is challenging and often I just don't want to (cue whiny voice), despite the benefits. So I set my timer and can quit when it goes off...although I usually finish the workout.

As a reward or to take a break--everyone needs them! I look forward to them and am (usually) ready to start again when the timer goes off

Self-care--so I do it, but don't feel like I'm taking "too much" time out of my daily routine

Why 17 minutes? I wish I could say that I've done research and experiments and realized that 17 minutes is the PERFECT amount of time and has solved all of my above problems. The truth? Seventeen minutes seems like a much more significant amount of time than 15 minutes, but is not overwhelming. It is plenty of time to choose a graphic for a post or make a choice out of the literally thousands of toasters on Amazon. I can get a corner of the messy room dug out, or have a satisfying workout, in 17 minutes, and most times I continue for longer...but if I don't I still did the 17 minutes.

Many days I set the timer even if I'm not engaging in one of the above bad habits. The alarm is a cue to myself to check the time, look at what I've completed, think about what I plan to accomplish, and refocus, adjust my plan, or take a break!

And now, the timer is about to go off again (I've reset it 4 or 5 times while completing this) and it's time to hit "POST"! I could work on it alllllll day, but my other favorite time-management/life-management tip is "𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 '𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩' 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙛 '𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝'." More on that in my next post!

Challenge: Consider setting a 17 minute timer today. If you'd like, post why you did and how it helped you.