I deserve a trophy, friends.
I've managed to tackle one of my least favorite tasks in the entire year--organizing the kids' new clothes for autumn/winter and storing the clothes from summer. And I finished the bulk of it one week before autumn has even arrived!
This may also be the first year I've finished this task without any tears involved (from me, not the kids--in case you were wondering!). I conquered it by "suffering for 15 minutes a day."
I took this advice from Gretchen Rubin's new book Happier at Home. I like Gretchen's writing style because she studies happiness from a practical perspective, instead of a purely philosophical one. The resolutions she shares on her blog and in her books are crafted to be specific, concrete, and measureable. (Gretchen also answered a few questions in an interview series I did a couple of years ago if you'd like to check it out.)
I love the ending to Gretchen's new book, too. I won't give it away, but I'll give you a clue: Little House! And you know how I adore Little House.
"Suffer for 15 minutes" means what it sounds like--setting a timer for 15 minutes, tackling an unpleasant task, then stopping as soon as the timer goes off. I was drawn to this idea immediately, but at first couldn't even think of when I could spare 15 minutes (you mamas know what I'm talking about, right?!).
Then the ideal time came to mind--a time of day that I used to use for writing, but had to stop due to too many interruptions from the kids. Now I use it for less intense work--emails, blog formatting, photo uploading, etc. It would be the perfect time to suffer for 15 minutes. Since I started I've not only finished the children's clothes, but I'm making slow, but steady progress on other unpleasant tasks one-by-one.
Can you find 15 minutes to tackle a task that's been weighing you down today?
"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules."
~ Anthony Trollope
