Something is Better Than Nothing

Hey guys! I'm back again; slowly finding my feet with a new routine. It's so empowering to be in charge of my own day, but it's also showing me the holes in my mindset - seeing where my attention goes and seeing where I spend my time and energy when I let my day run me, instead of running my day! I am giving myself grace though, because I acknowledge how burnt out and stressed I was with my work situation, so coming out of that, I'm really not surprised that I'm falling in a bit of a heap and need to build myself up again piece by piece - starting with good routines! Having already had a pretty good morning routine in place, I've been able to expand that, and spend a bit more time filling my cup up in the mornings before I get started on my day. I notice that I am so much better at staying on track and doing productive things when I start my day off properly! And yes, I'm still getting up at 4:30am even though I don't have to. That half hour of early morning quiet to myself before hubby gets up is one of my favourite parts of the day! On the topic of habits and routines, I wanted to share with you guys a concept that I got from a Ted Talk that I listened to last year: the one minute rule. It's simple, just do something for one minute every day. That's all. The concept is based off the understanding that "starting" is always the hardest part of doing something. We procrastinate, or find excuses, or do something else entirely, all to avoid doing the one thing we promised ourselves we would do! Whether it be excercise, reading a self help book, working on a project, or vacuuming the floor, I think almost everyone has fallen prey to this in one form or another. There's a lot of tips out there around setting yourself up for success by planning ahead; laying out your workout gear the night before so that's what you get dressed into in the morning, for example. But I'm totally guilty of getting dressed for a workout and then sitting on the couch for half an hour... so there's still a missing link between being prepared, scheduling it in, and then actually starting the activity! So what if you just done it for one minute? What if you set a timer on your phone, and walked down the road for only one minute?? I bet once you were out there, with the fresh air in your lungs and the sun warm on your face, that you would want to keep going! So you would walk a couple minutes longer before turning around and coming home. Same thing with starting a project, or doing some housework - just one minute! Just set a timer and start - and if after one minute you're not feeling it and you want to stop, well, you've already done one minute more than you would have if you done nothing at all! So try for another minute tomorrow! Consistency is key. There is so much power in doing something consistently - consistency wins every time! If you went for a walk (conscious movement, not just normal walking throughout the day), for 1min every day, that's 365 minutes in a year! And walking everyday is going to be so much better for you than walking for 30mins once a month (or 'when you have time'), because consistency wins over massive action. If you walk a bigger distance less often, you're possibly going to have sore muscles, or feel like it's too hard - so it's even longer until you do the next big walk! It feels unsustainable, and so you don't sustain it. But the thing is, everybody has time for one minute! So just set the timer and start; whether it's 1min of a workout, 1min of meal planning, 1min of cleaning, or 1min of anything productive that you've maybe been wanting to make a start on, the trick is to start. All too often we can talk ourselves out of doing something because we don't have the time or mental capacity to finish it in one sitting, and it's been a big mindset shift for me to learn that that's ok! I would put off cleaning until I had time to do the whole house - but what if I just cleaned the bathroom sink, or vaccummed half the floor?? I would put off working on my business because I couldn't sit down for a full half an hour - but what if I just done 5mins here and 10mins there and ticked off half an hour of work over the course of the day?? Once your mindset shifts and you realise that something is better than nothing, it's easier to decide to do something for just one minute! It doesn't matter whether you finish the task, all that matters is that you start! What are you going to apply the one minute rule to??