After the pretty involved crawlspace project we had done late last spring/early summer, I told Mom we were going to have to put other projects of that nature on hold for a while. I made that call because, while we generally had good experiences with our contractors, I needed a break from them and the worry you have when other people are messing with your stuff.
Plus, we had dropped a pretty penny when all was said and done, and I didn't relish the thought of forking out anymore money for anything else, not for a while, anyway.
Then October came, and we decided we'd pull the trigger on an interior door project where we'd have the single solid door between my home office and the living room replaced with a single French door. But that one ended up being put on hold indefinitely for various reasons, including extreme frustration with the door installation company we were going to use. Plus, we were closing in on the holidays, and I didn't want that hanging over my head at that time.
After a discussion, Mom and I decided we'd hold off on restarting contractor projects until February.
February came, and then March, then April, but we failed to start projects. Not because we didn't want to do them, but because somewhere along the way, I lost the desire to take the first step in getting them started (getting quotes, etc).
In addition to that, I wasn't taking the initiative to do projects *I* could do around the house (outside of the routine stuff like washing clothes, dishes, and that sort of thing). Every time I thought about going to the spare bedroom and finally conquering the disaster that it was (with things strewn everywhere to the point we had to make a path to get to the window to open the blinds), I'd tell myself "nope, not today."
An organization project I wanted to do for the laundry room failed to launch, too, partly because I was undecided on how to lay everything out. A kitchen decluttering project also fell by the wayside.
Some bathroom projects I had planned for myself involving changing the decor and the toilet seats got put on the back burner as well because I simply lacked the motivation to do any of it.
While some of it could be blamed on work, caregiving, and life responsibilities, and me just being too tuckered out to get the ball rolling, a lot of it was me simply preferring to sit my patootie in the recliner and binge on some old TV shows we like to watch, and YouTube channels that we find interesting.
It was in "Binge Tubing" that I found a video by a YouTuber who noted she had a big problem with procrastination and had been desperate to come up with a solution for it. She said she found it in the "five-minute rule," which was to set a timer for five minutes and get started on something you want to do, giving yourself five minutes to at least make a small dent in whatever task you were trying to tackle.
She mentioned that nine times out of ten, once the five minutes were up, there was a strong likelihood you'd keep going. It was psychological, tricking your brain into thinking "yeah, I can handle five minutes' worth of work on this project." And if you stopped at five minutes rather than continuing, that was that much you'd gotten behind you for the next time you wanted to set your timer to pick up where you left off.
It was so simple, and yet for me, it was instantly effective. It got me to put one foot in front of the other for a change and start on that kitchen decluttering I've been wanting to do. I set the timer for five minutes and ended up working on it for 15 minutes, and stopped there for the time being.
We all get in ruts like this sometimes, where we just don't want to do anything, but I'm so grateful to have stumbled upon that video because I normally am not someone who likes to veg all day long. Now, I love to lounge, but at some point, I've got to get up and move.
In any event, for anyone interested in the video, check it out below and let me know your thoughts:
