Last week was my first real week of work, and I stared down at my notebook as my to-do list kept growing…
and growing…
and growing…
How much work could one possibly have to do on their fifth week of work? It was probably more the fact that I was coming back from a 2-week vacation with a mountain of onboarding tasks to complete while also trying to find my groove on my first week back.
But if you’re feeling this way, chances are your team is probably feeling similar. We all seem to be moving at a break-neck pace which is unsustainable and deeply stress-inducing.
If you’re struggling to keep up, try using my 5-minute rule:
If it’s too overwhelming to finish, just commit to five minutes.
I know it’s not rocket science, but there’s a little mental game we can play with ourselves. We can do most work-related tasks for 5 minutes. I use this in my day-to-day for non-work related things too. If I don’t feel like going out for a run, just commit to 5 minutes. Usually by the time I get past those 5 minutes, I’m a bit more comfortable and can keep going (or I just commit to another 5).
So pick one thing and give it 5 minutes of your time.
Five minutes to rewrite a Slack message.
Five minutes to prep for a 1:1.
Five minutes to read the spec I’ve been avoiding.
What usually happens? I keep going.
Because five minutes is just enough time to start.
And momentum is easier to manage than motivation.