In the midst of a big grad school project (yes, I graduated a year ago, but the peer review process at scientific journals has no respect for that fact) that has to be completed evenings and weekends (I'm grateful to have a full-time job, but I'm also grateful that I didn't have a separate full-time job all the way through grad school!), I have down-sized my cleaning ambitions. It's amazing the number of cleaning and organizing projects - both grand and mini - that suddenly seem CRUCIAL and TOTALLY DOABLE when you're sitting down to chip away at a paper, but I've tried to make a note of my ideas and put them aside until later.
In that context, though, I've developed a new strategy: the micro-project. This isn't even necessarily a project, but something that can be done in 5-10 minutes without sinking you into something bigger. Today, when I needed a break from my computer, I decided I would put away/clean/take care of 10 things - no more, no less. I wiped down the dining room table and an end table in the living room, watered a plant, took a load out to the recycling bin, and found 6 small things to throw away or put away.
Today's micro-project was super satisfying (not to mention a good way to stretch a little and get into a different mode after lots of computer time). It will be my new strategy for breaks from this type of work - or maybe even for times that I just don't feel like cleaning anything. 10 things isn't many, but it makes a difference. And at the end of my 10 things, I absolutely could have kept going. It's parallel to getting yourself out for a run - I used to make the deal with myself that I was allowed to come home after 1/4 mile if I wanted to, but I had to get out and go that far. Invariably, by the time I got out the door and got moving, keeping going was no problem.
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