The Life Hacks That Have Made Me a Happier Person.
I wrote about the one-minute rule years ago, but as a reminder for all (myself included), I'm bringing it back up because it continues to help me a lot. If a task can be completed in under a minute, handle it immediately. This way, it doesn't go into your nagging mental pile of things to do. I'm including the below quote from Gretchen Rubin's 2009 book The Happiness Project that sparked this way of living:
“It’s very simple: I must do any task that can be finished in one minute. Hang up my coat, read a letter and toss it, fill in a form, answer an email, pick up my phone messages, file a paper, put a dish in the dishwasher, replenish the diaper supply by the changing table, put the magazines away…and so on.
Because the tasks are so quick, it isn’t too hard to make myself follow the rule—but it has big results. Keeping all those small, nagging tasks under control makes me more serene, less overwhelmed.”
I'm not always great at keeping up with it, but I'm much happier and less anxious when I do. My brain feels less cluttered, and I'm just a better human?
What brought me back to the one-minute rule was when I started thinking about everything we needed to do to prep for back to school. While I'm consciously trying to enjoy the last weeks of summer, in the back of my mind, I've realized that I find August to be a mentally stressful month. A large part of that is thinking about the to-do list: the supplies I need to order, the clothing I need to update, the fresh new book bag I promised we would get, etc. Practicing the one-minute rule has eliminated a lot of my back-to-school scaries. A few of the things on my to-do list were:
Order Nate a Minecraft backpack.
Order Sasha a unicorn backpack.
Sneakers (for Nate) - Nike Borough 2.5
BTS (back-to-school) supplies.
Work on my fall wishlist (an article I'm working on).
Yesterday, I sat down and said to myself, "If I could cross two things off this list, I'll be happy." The two ended up being three, and the next thing I knew, I was in such a better state of mind. I felt so much lighter. I felt like I'd accomplished something, even though it was a relatively simple task. I've also started implementing the 5-minute method. I don't know if this is a proven theory, but it's my own little game that I play.
I'll set a 5-minute timer, and in that time frame, I'll give myself a task: put at least five things away from the chair of overflowing clothes, draft a new substack, do at least one load of laundry." This strategy has been another game-changer on that so-called mental load. Often, five minutes turn into more, but if not, I still feel satisfied.
If you have any time-management or happiness hacks that work for you, please share them below. I live for this kind of stuff.
Love this! My new favorite game-changer is “don’t put it down, put it away”… it helps reduce the everyday clutter that eventually piles up. Even when cooking it helps keep the kitchen clutter to a minimum :)
I learned about one-minute rule when you first wrote about it on the blog and I still think about it All. The. Time. It is such good advice. I wish I was better at keeping up with it because, like you, I feel so satisfied when I accomplish the little things throughout the day. Thanks for the reminder!