Somehow three weeks have flown by. In between traveling, severe personal sickness, and then followed by sick children, the house has deteriorated. In other words, it’s in shambles, and as I look around, I’m praying fervently for my personal cleaning fairy. I know “shambles” is relative, and my shambles may not be yours, but the point is, after a few days of waiting, my fairy has yet to show up. That means, I need to get my wings polished off, and get flying.

The problem? I don’t want to start…at all.  It’s a bit overwhelming and I know that a few hours will not claim perfection.

Now for those of you who are “everything has it’s place, don’t go to sleep till it’s spotless” kind of friends, this next bit of advice is going to kill you. Just close your eyes or stop reading. This is for those of us who just need to do the NEXT THING.

I am giving you permission to NOT wait for perfection, to stop making excuses because the task seems too large, and to take a few baby steps with me.

Go set the timer, and pick a time that is manageable. How much time can you give a task today? Choose the amount of time that you can actually work from start to finish without stopping.

If that is only ten minutes, then go for it. Remember, there’s never a perfect time.

I set the timer for ten minutes, even though I have a minimum of five hours of work. I want to see how much I can accomplish in that amount of time, and then will start again. No need to choose one hour if at the end, I will only be discouraged because one million interruptions occurred.

Put on the music, turn it up loud, and let’s get to it.

I walked through all the rooms downstairs and put anything out of place, on the floor, stuck in corner etc,  into the Rubbermaid. (Yes, there’s still so much more to do, but it feels SO good to have clear spots.) Do NOT  take the time to start organizing, putting things away, or get side tracked. We all know that everything should have a space, but if we start doing that now, we won’t feel the immediate sense of great accomplishment that this one task provides.

Ready, set…speed clean!

I’ll check in on my Facebook page and let you know my next ten minute task and all that I am accomplishing today.

Can’t wait for you to join me! What task have you been putting off that you just need to start..now?