"Ding!"

My clothes closet really needed some serious attention this weekend, so I took advantage of that fresh rush of “let me at it” energy that comes with the start of a brand new year and attacked in with a kitchen timer.

“What?!” You’re asking.

A kitchen timer. It’s a trick of mine whenever I have to handle a project that is especially daunting or way overdue or both. You know the kind. You’ve put the task off so long that what was once just a big chore now seems overwhelming. I use a kitchen time to underwhelm it.

Whenever I begin a particularly grueling task I’ll set the kitchen timer for just five minutes, knowing I can do just about anything that long.

And then something magical happens. Knowing I only have to tackle the whatever-its-name-is monster for five measly minutes, I am able to get started on it. And once I’ve started on it, guess what? Even when the timer goes off it doesn’t really matter, I’m already “doing” it, and I usually keep right on working.

Further evidence that most of us don’t need help doing something, we just need a little help getting started.

“Ding!”