Achievement can help with boosting your confidence and this is one way to make this happen.
All of us have those particular jobs around the house, in our business or in our lives we rarely, if ever, get around to. The trouble is something, usually anything, more interesting always comes up!
With the extra time some of us have during this current situation you’d think we’d all be bang up to date sitting in spotlessly clean and organised homes that would make Mary Kobe proud. Yes there was the initial flurry and commitment of catching up on a list of outstanding tasks – my vegetable beds are looking great and my accounts have never been so up to date – before other things got in the way.
The cupboard that needs sorting, clothes that need chucking out or sheds that need organising can make us masters of avoidance and inaction. Even an overdue pile of loathed ironing can become more attractive than sorting a kitchen drawer that you can never find anything in!
We use many reasons to convince ourselves never to do those uninspiring chores. There is a reason we call them chores! Yet we know, after we’ve done them, we’ll feel better and sometimes ridiculously so. They can even make our daily lives easier. Nevertheless we still avoid them.
There are many ways to overcome this inertia andI’ve used many tricks and techniques to tackle those less attractive jobs over the years though it was my partner who came up with this one. Once I’d tried it I was hooked.
He called it ‘A Power Hour’ and we use it to clean our house. You can use it for a huge variety of activities and I’ve been using it with a friend so we are both really focused on our work. It’s incredible and remarkable how much you can achieve in 60 minutes.
You have to do a Power Hour with someone else either in your own house or virtually. Your sense of achievement and satisfaction grows the more people you complete a Power Hour with and children will love it.
Rules for Success
- Regardless of where the task is taking place agree the place you will start the Power Hour from and return to. This applies whether you are in the same house or going virtual. This way you’ll feel as if you’re all pulling in the same direction and gives a sense of completion at the end.
- All devices – phones, tablets etc – must be left at the start point. This creates focus and avoid distractions.
- The goal is to get as much done as possible within the 60 minutes and you can only do the task whilst the timer is running. No carrying on afterwards even if you want to!
- You must finish and return got the start once the alarm goes off at the end of the Power Hour.
- Only one Power Hour per day otherwise it loses its power and becomes less fun.
Method
- Decide what time you will start the Power Hour.
- Set and start a timer – we use the one on the oven rather than a phone because it’s different to our phone alerts.
- Avoid chatting and get as much done as you can in the hour.
- When the alarm goes off, return to the start point, chat about how you are feeling, compare notes and decide when you’re doing your next one.
That’s it. The first one may take some ‘selling’ to others though once you, and they, know what they can achieve they’ll be hooked.
It honestly never gets boring. With a simple framework its great for mental wellbeing, boosting your confidence and it’s only an hour so you’ll stop the excuses, actually start and it’s definitely manageable. You may even make Mary Kobe proud!
Enjoy the day you create.
Martin