Elizabeth Potts Weinstein » life hack

You Can Do Anything in Just 15 Minutes

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:38:49 +0000

Have something on your to-do list that you’ve been procrastinating forever? Maybe your bookkeeping or taxes, or your desk organization, writing your book, cleaning up your kid’s toys, writing new copy for your website, or finishing up a client project?

Here’s the secret — instead of working on your big project or task, just do it for 15 minutes.

I’ve been harnessing the power of 15 minutes for the last few weeks, helping me to organize my house, clean up my landscaping & front porch, get all my daily housekeeping done, give toys to charity, organize my desk, get my files cleaned up, cut down on email time, launch an affiliate program, and cut my to-do list down to size.

I originally learned this tip from flylady.net, who teach it in conjunction with running a smooth household. But you can use the Power of 15 Minutes in all aspects of your personal & business life to stop procrastination & overwhelm and finally get stuff done.

How does it work?

Get a digital timer. You may call it a kitchen time or an “egg timer” — something that will count down time and buzz when your time is up.
Pick the task or project on your to-do list that you’ve been procrastinating the longest.
Set your timer for 15 minutes and work on that project for 15 minutes solid. No checking email. No checking twitter or facebook. For that matter, get off the internet. No answering the phone. Don’t answer your mobile (unless you are sure it’s your kids calling and they are either bleeding or in jail). You may need to go somewhere else to do this (coffee shop, library, cave).
At the end of 15 minutes you are DONE. Yay!
Acknowledge your progress. You can cross off that task on your list for the day. (if it seems weird to cross it off, write down “15 minutes on XYZ project” and cross that off) Amazing how much you can get done if you are NOT multitasking!
Be happy! Don’t you feel like you’ve made progress! Congrats!

This also works great if you spend TOO MUCH time on a task. Set your timer for 15 minutes of internet surfing or email reading. At the end of 15 minutes, get back to work.

This article was featured in The Twenty Fourth Edition of the Carnival of Improving Life.

Going With the Flow

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:03:15 +0000

Tuesday morning I woke up with a passion … for cleaning out my house. Not "cleaning" per se, but sorting through and organizing all the junk and clutter that has built up in the 4 years we have lived in our home. My first thought was no, I need to work on the gigantic list of work projects and not use cleaning to procrastinate those items on my to do list. But I decided to go with my cleaning "flow" — and here’s why.

My husband and I have been thinking about moving to another part of the bay area & have been looking for the perfect place for a few months, to no avail. Everything was too far away, too expensive, too murky, too crowded, or just not right. So on Sunday night I made a list of each of our top 5 "wants" in a location to live, and triangulated them on a map (15 minutes from this, 30 minutes from that, etc.). We found our location (for those of you who are from the Bay Area, the Skylonda area of Woodside). Monday we took a few hours off work for a visit and fell in love.

Now our move is real. I finally have a motivation to de-clutter my house, because I have a real vision of what our new home will be like. And de-clutter is the first step in selling this house and packing to move.

My first thought was that I should not use de-cluttering as a procrastination tool to delay working on work. But I quickly put that thought aside. Right now I have a passion for cleaning (which does not arrive every day, let me tell you) and I should harness this energy and make some major progress. My "job" is not running my business — that’s just one part of the roles I perform in taking care of myself and my family — and I should feel no guilt in setting different priorities during my "work time."

So yesterday I cleaned out my laundry room, top to bottom. Wow. It had not been cleaned out since we moved in, and had a ton of junk piled in corners and stuff in cabinets. Filled up the entire trash can outside with junk, found a cooler from camping in May that was not completely empty (nasty!), reorganized the tool box, threw away stained clothes, and cleaned up dust hiding in corners. If I had to move tomorrow, everything in that room would fit in two banker’s boxes.

Just from that small amount of progress, I feel lighter and more confident. I’m less distracted, so today I can concentrate on work.

7 Secrets to Running Your Business With a Sick Kid at Home

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:40:21 +0000

Grace, my 2-year old, came down with a 102 degree fever last night, so she could not go to preschool today. But I did not have a nervous breakdown (unlike me last year) and was able to keep my business afloat. What are my secrets?

Don’t Procrastinate (too much). My eZine was set to go to my web designer today (for html formatting), but since I started working on it on Monday, it was mostly done. I was able to complete the eZine in about 30 minutes during Grace’s nap. But if I had started today, I would be working on it right now (at 9:30 PM), freaking out.
Share That You Are a Mom. I had to reschedule a meeting with a colleague today — who totally understood. I don’t reschedule people unless I have a sick kid, and since my people (clients, contact) all know that I am a mompreneur, they are not taken aback. Anyone who does not want to be bothered by someone with a kid does not do business with me anyway, since I am upfront (and good riddance).
Be Flexible. I had planned to upload and format a new podcast page today, but it is just getting uploaded now, and may not be formatted until tomorrow. That means the design for a related postcard, and the press releases, will also be delayed. But I’m okay with that, since it is not the end of the world that things are one or two days behind.
Use Plan B (or C). I didn’t need to do it this time, but I have used a nanny service to find last-minute childcare for my sick daughter. Costs and arm and a leg ($17/hr plus referral fee of 25%) but worth it so I don’t have to cancel a client meeting.
Use Your Systems. My virtual assistant (who is doing her job from vacation this week) answers my email and voicemail, so that gets done even if I am out of the loop. Many of my email, contact us forms, and other website stuff have automatic response systems to catch the rest.
Build a Flex Day Into Your Plan. I plan that I will spend one day with Gracie home with me, during the work week. That day is usually Thursday, but if she is home with me Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, then I can send her to school on Thursday, and still get the same work done that week. Does not work this week, since she’s still running a fever, but came in handy last month.
Embrace the Chaos. Grace, who felt pretty good even though she had a fever, loved hanging out with mommy today. We went to the mall, did crafts, and cuddled on the sofa. Instead of worrying, I made a conscious effort to enjoy the time we had together today.

What do you do when you kid is home sick? Leave a comment and share your suggestions.