My 15-Minute Experiment

Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.
~Pablo Picasso

I have been thinking that I would like to change the way I do things. Time often seems to get away from me. I end up doing the same things and getting in the same time wasting ruts. Not that spending time to just playing around is not a good thing and I plan to do that as well, it is just that I do not notice how much time I am spending to do something and then I have used more time than I planned. Frustration sets in which makes the job take even longer and I do not do have any time left for creativity, which is what I crave for this week.

I have this idea for today. I have been timing the Princess with some of her lessons to help her to concentrate and condense the time she spends on them, so why not do the same with my housework, because what happens, especially when I clean the Princess' room, which I am doing today, is that I get bogged down and time just gets away from me.

I get emotionally involved with everything I pick up and dust and just cannot throw away. The problem is that the girl keeps everything...EVERYTHING! Little snips of paper that have a bit of color on them that she used as fake nails; crafts from Sunday school; rocks and feathers; and books—we both have books that no longer fit on any of our shelves!

I end up taking all day to do what should just be a couple of hours at most, but I will end up telling myself that I do not even have to finish the room today, although I would like to and that is my goal. I will start out with all this resolve and energy, yet within a half hour I want to quit because I feel it is overwhelming. The girl has too much stuff and I need to begin teaching her to let go of some it, letting her choose to what she has outgrown on her own. However, today I am here alone so I will just make a few decisions about what will stay and what will go on my own.

Today I am going to set a timer for fifteen minutes and work in her room and then the next fifteen minutes I will do something else, like vacuum or read email or play with the kittens or garden or clean the bathroom or cross stitch or read, anything else that is outside of her room for the next fifteen minutes.

I can renew my resolve in these fifteen minute spurts and walk away taking a mental break doing something that takes less thought and has less emotional involvement. A similar concept seems to work with the FlyLady crowd, so here I go....

~ My Lord, if it pleases You, help me to get done what needs to be done. As I look around there are so many areas of my house that need attention, and yet, my Lord, I would like to also dabble in art also so help me to be to find a balance that satisfies with both goals. ~