Time Blocking 10 minutes (for that one dreaded task)
Time blocking is something you can use to focus on a project you would like to finish, or in today’s case, to focus on a task you kind of dread doing. Have you ever heard the saying, “Asking a quilter to mend is like asking Picasso to paint your garage”?
I have this affliction. I’m a quilter or aspiring to be one. But if you ask me to hem a pair of pants or sew a button back on, it typically goes into my mending pile, which is in a corner and does an excellent job of collecting dust.
What is it about a simple mending task that I can put off literally for YEARS! The style has come and gone, and could come back again before I get to its mending. I just don’t care to do it most days.
Yet, I will time block to plan and measure and cut and stitch for hours, even months, on a quilt without batting (pun not intended) an eye. Just don’t ask me to sew a button back on!?
I’m trying to be better about this. I try to use the 10-minute time block principle I’ve used in other areas of my life. Here is what I do to tackle the mundane task of my mending pile. (Your task might be something else, but the same principles apply.)
Time blocking: Commit to a small amount of time
First, commit to time blocking 10 minutes. Most of the time it takes less than 10 minutes to hem a pants leg that has come undone, or sew a button back on. Resizing something can take a bit longer, but if I just commit to 10 minutes, I can at least get started and many times finish the item. If it takes longer than 10 minutes, I can decide whether to come back another day or just go ahead and finish it.
Weed out the unnecessary
Second, I went through my mending pile and actually got rid of a few items that were no longer the style or size we wore. Win!
Identify what’s left
Third, I pulled out 5 items I wanted to finish. All were very simple buttons, or hems that needed redone. Nothing complex. It would take me less than an hour to finish all 5, yet the feeling of accomplishment for something so small — it’s as if I had finished an entire quilt!
Mixing it up
There are also different ways to do this 10 minutes time block. You could do 10 minutes every day, or maybe just on certain days. You might also consider multiple 10 minute stints back to back. Let’s say you have a 30-minute block of time. Maybe you go to your kid’s practice and will just be sitting in your car, or maybe you get to an appointment a little earlier and can hang out in the car for a bit. Provided you’ve planned ahead and brought stuff with you, you could do two or three 10-minutes stints.
You can also use the 10-minute block to batch related tasks. Sometimes, I’ll use my 10 minutes to pull together the buttons, the matching thread, the needle and a stack of items so that during my next 10 minute stint I can just sit down and start mending.
Another option I’ve used, is to set one item from my mending pile in a spot that I know I’ll see it the next day. For me, this is my dining room table. I use 10 minutes that day to just sit down and do it. And if the day gets away from me, then I try to do a better job the next day when I see it still sitting in the same spot.
Ten minutes. Just ten minutes.
Concluding thoughts on time blocking 10 minutes at a time
In conclusion, find that chore or household task that just gnaws at you and time block it for 10 minutes each day until it’s done. See what you can get accomplished on it. And if after 10 minutes you want to keep at it, then do so! Otherwise, you have the right to stop at 10 minutes and go on to something else.
It is amazing what just a little bit of focus and consistent action can produce. Before you know it, you might just get through that mending pile. If that happens, can you let me know what that feels like because I haven’t gotten there yet.
What task are you going to focus on for 10 minutes? Or what task did you apply your 10 minutes to and how did it turn out? Drop me a note in the comments!
Time Blocking 10 minutes (for that one dreaded task)
