Sometimes you just need a stupid-simple strategy. Here’s one.
When I left my first marriage, my young daughters and I moved in with my sister and her family. Our girls were all the same ages, she was a stay-at-home mom, and I had to go back to work right after we moved in. I’d leave for work early in the morning, and my sister was already at work when she woke up. While it might have been twice the love, it was also twice the little bodies, twice the energy, twice the cooking, twice the tears, twice the noise, and twice the mess. We all agree that we wouldn’t trade that time for anything, but still....
Walking in the door one evening I could see that my sister was close to the end of her gracious rope. Surveying the household landscape strewn with evidence of another “fun” filled day, checking out the kitchen with no evidence of dinner in sight, and looking at my worn out sister with no evidence of a plan of attack, I said the only thing I could come up with:
Just twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes later and with all hands on deck, the toys, books, splatter paints, My Little Ponies, and dress-up clothes were tucked away, the table was set, and dinner was underway. The 20 minute rule has been with us ever since.
In just twenty mintues you can:
Clean out your email
Schedule a hair cut, pedicure, dentist appointment, car tune-up, chiropractor appointment, and piano tuner.
Make that phone call you’ve been putting off
Plan your week
Grocery shop
Apologize
Write another paragraph of your manuscript
RSVP to an invitation, and order a birthday present for the party girl
Fold the laundry
Hold a productive meeting
Make a decision
Write a blog
Apply for medicare
Fill-in-the-blank that you keep putting off
Life can be pretty daunting. Twenty minutes is not.
