My 15-minute rule is the answer to reaching my goals.
Every year I make goals. Some I have attained, and others I haven’t. When I don’t reach a goal I get frustrated and mad at myself.
This year I decided would be different.
Not only would I make new kinds of goals, but also I would achieve them.
I looked at why I haven’t achieved my goals. What has held me back? It seems the problem for me is that I make too many projects and later I realize that many are not really that important to me.
So the first step was to reduce my goals to the ones I was really committed to achieving. I think, for me, having too many goals on my list that I am not totally committed to achieving makes them seem less crucial and more overwhelming.
Thus, I limit myself to must haves only.
The next step was to spread the goal out over 12 months so there was something I would do every month. Making consistent progress towards my goal makes it seem more doable. I decided I had to have activities for each month starting in January. No longer would I say that I had all year before I started.
Pay attention – here is the secret sauce for me: Maria’s 15-minute rule.
Looking at goals that required a lot of work is daunting for me. So, instead of starting out the gate with a lot of activity I chunked it done to 15 minutes of activity each day.
One of my goals this year was to reorganize my house from top to bottom.
I broke down the goal to a different part of the house to tackle each month. This month I worked on my basement and basement bedroom. It was totally cluttered with things, that in some spots it was hard to walk. The thought of cleaning and organizing it was something that stressed me out. Instead, I decided to just tackle 15 minutes a day. I would go downstairs and put a timer on and spend 15 minutes tackling one section.
It took me a month.
But, now it’s done. I admit I feel great at accomplishing it. The rest of my house I had worked on for the last 6 months. Looking pretty good. Now sometimes I feel like doing more after the 15 minutes so I don’t stop till I feel like it. For someone who is a big procrastinator this really works for me.
A big goal this year has been to finally get down to my goal weight.
I know I needed to add exercise to my day in order to achieve it. I had this belief that I had to start a serious routine. The thought of it was very un-motivating. So, I tried the 15-minute rule. First, I did yoga for 15 minutes a day. After a month or two I added 15 minutes of walking. Several months later I added another 15 minutes of walking. Now I am exercising 45 minutes a day. I intend in a few weeks to add another 15 minutes of weight training and Pilates, until I am up to a full one hour a day.
I know if I started with an hour I would never had sustained it.
My 15-minute rule works for almost everything.
If you want to improve your finances start by spending 15 minutes a day organizing your paperwork. If you want to start a blog, spend 15 minutes each day writing and then when you are in a groove you can add more 15-minute blocks. You want to expand your client base, spend 15 minutes a day to reaching out to potential clients.
This strategy works very well for me.
I have seen movement in all areas of my life. I am getting better everyday.
Do you have an even better secret?
If so, spill the beans in the comment section below!
