Where to start your 5 minute life

We're going to start exactly where you are now with exactly what you have.

This method will work no matter how you're spending your time.

This is the hard part because it's time to get real. This is a no judgement zone!!!

I’ll use my own breakdown of where I started as an example:

I spend a lot of time with my TV on. I'm not always engaged in it but it's on.

I started there.

After doing some research and some time with a stopwatch myself, this is the formula that I put together for myself:

Regular TV watching

On average there is about 15 minutes of commercials an hour. I know that some breaks are only about two minutes but some can be at least five if not six.

There are more than three breaks per hour but for My Five Minute Life, I went with saying three breaks an hour for five minutes.

It's not unreasonable for me to say that my TV is on 12 hours. With my formula that means….

12 hours with 3 breaks of 5 minutes each an hour…..I can get 36 tasks done in my day just by utilizing the commercial breaks.

36 tasks at 5 minutes each equals 180 minutes or 3 hours of getting shit done!!
Your breakdown can be based on whatever you do the most.

Streaming platforms

If you binge watch shows on a platform that doesn't have commercials, that's ok!! I’m a binge watcher so I totally understand. Start with 5 minutes between them. OR if you are using Hulu (my main TV watching) at the top left hand corner they tell you how many seconds you have in a commercial break.

I have made it a game to see how many things I can get done in a 90 second break. I may take a full 5 minutes and just rewind back to where the commercial left off.

Gamer

I am!! I am a huge gamer. Find a pattern in the game where you can sneak in a 5 minute break. This is going to take some discipline, I understand.

Everyone has to take a bathroom break or a break to eat. Start there if you need to.

It doesn't matter where you start as much as having the mindset of starting small new habits to get you where you want to go.

What do you start with?

I highly recommend starting with self care.

When I talk to people, many times they admit that self care is the last thing on their list or it goes out the window all together.

Self care went completely out the window for me over the years. Taking care of everyone else came first. I did not have the energy for myself after that.

Sound familiar? Stop that. :)

The other thing I highly recommend is to build yourself a physical list. When I say physical what I mean is, write them down.

Your list can be digital or paper. I use a combination of both. All I know for sure is that I have a really hard time remembering things that seem to be easy for others.

When living with chronic illnesses or mental health issues, this is common.

Don't be afraid to write down even the smallest thing if it's something you're struggling to remember.

What do I have on my self care list? Brush teeth, AM meds/sups, PM meds/sups, wash face, feet with tennis ball, feet with band (My feet are where I’m starting on my body work), reading, journaling. That gives you an idea of a few.

Some of those take 5 minutes or less and some do not. I was either not doing them or forgetting if I had done them. I needed a way to track that. (especially taking meds/supplements!)

I did not start with all of those. I started with just brushing my teeth beyond taking my meds/suppliments.

You can start with whatever it is that you need the most. Just one task is fine to get you started.

Do that one task until you feel confident that you’re doing it regularly and then add another task.

We’re not running a sprint, this is a cross country race… slow and steady will get you there.

A few other things about your lists.

DON’T stress if you can’t complete what you list every day. If it’s a tough day, only do what is critical.

DO decide what your most critical items are on that list and make those your base line for each day.

Example: If I do nothing more than remember to take my meds/supplements in the morning and at night, I've done enough for the day.

There are days like that more often than I like still, but it's a work in progress.

We're not looking for perfection, we're looking for progress.

We're going to use this same concept of adding in 5 minute tasks over time to get you whatever it is you want.

Does your home need attention? We can do that.

Want to make better wellness choices?
We can do that.

Have a dream to build a business?
We can do that too!

At my lowest, I had to focus on self care only. As time has gone on I have added more “areas” of my life.

My goal(s)? I have identified 5 areas of my life..
1 Self care
2 Home care
3 Homestead (my dream)
4 This blog (another dream)
5 A business in SecondLife (A virtual world) & it's blog

And that is the exact priority I put on each of them as well.

Will I ever have all of them at once running smoothly and effortlessly? I don't know but I'm going to give it my best to get there!

Where am I right now?
Working hard to make sure I get through my self care list as much as possible regularly.

Everything else is bonus.

What are your biggest self care struggles?

~Fero~