The 30 Second Rule

Remember the 30 second rule
Sandra Felton

Sandra Felton is my absolute favorite organization guru. What I love about her and her writing is that she is funny, down to earth, and all of her tools are in "plain speak." Her strategies follow my rule of thumb for success. Easy to follow and easy to carry out.

Her "30 second rule" is, if you can do it in 30 seconds, do it now. This is a great tool. I encourage you to take a look at your home, your office, your life and examine how many 30 second tasks are staring at you.

Seriously, I am looking at my desk an a quiver of fear is running up my spine. Yipes. There are a whole lot of tiny .....okay. I just took a few minutes from my writing to take care of my 30 second tasks. Well, at least the ones at my desk. Every one of the things I did took between 10 and 30 seconds.

It's amazing how easy it is to leave those little things for "later." The end result can be shocking. It took me about 10 minutes to take care of my loose ends just now and my desk looks great.

Sandra knows what she is doing. Anyone can do something for 30 seconds, right? What if you began to train your mind to watch for 30 second tasks? What would your life be like if you quickly and unceremoniously took care of the little stuff immediately? I was surprised that there was only one item on my desk that would take more than 30 seconds. Now, it's easy to see and not buried under a lot of little stuff.

Think about taking 5 minutes at a time this week to knock off some of your 30 second tasks. Do what I just did by starting with my desk and take care of one area of your life at a time.

Then, imagine what it will feel like when you are living without a "30 second pile up." The key here goes beyond getting organized. It is the incredible emotional benefit we reap when we are free of the little tasks that can tie us down.

Good luck and get it done. 30 seconds at a time.

You can find Sandra Fulton's books on my website under the products page. Go to books and click on organization. Her books can be found in bookstores around the world as well.

You can go to Sandra's website at http://www.messies.com/ to learn more about her books and organizational tools.