A few months ago I told you about my 15 minute hallway renovation. Basically, I worked on it for only 15 minutes a day. Sure progress was slow, but progress happened. I find if I wait for the right day to jump in and spend a whole day moving mountains, it just never happens. But 15 minutes a day, or even 5 minutes. That I can do. So I’m taking this idea outside.
I think during the Summer, I was looking for that perfect day to get outside and work in the hot sun, creating memories and getting stuff done. With Kennedy home though, that never happened. So nothing happened.
Here’s our garden now. Eek, right? The big dead branches are piled on top of plastic to try and kill off some weeds. It got a little out of hand. We still had a good harvest this year though, so at least there’s that.
I’ve been up to my 15 minute game for the last couple of weeks and it’s amazing what I’ve been able to accomplish, really not spending any time out there at all. One day I might pull a patch of weeds, one day plant one little plant, one day trim a thing or two, one day pick up some extra bricks laying around.
When you do this, you’re not really tapping into the power of what can be done in 15 minutes, you’re tapping into the power of the fact that there are 365 days a year and the power of a habit. If you do something, anything, towards what you’re working on, just a tiny bit each day, you will make even more progress than you will if you do a “jump in feet first go all out Saturday afternoon then do nothing the rest of the week” kind of work session. I dare you not to impress yourself.
I guess I just forgot my own advice!
So now the last of the harvest if coming off and we’re getting ready to till everything and start fresh next year.
Pumpkins are so rewarding even if you have ignored them all year.
In an attempt to make the front of our house look somewhat less abandoned, I moved this single urn out here. Maybe it doesn’t look so stunning, but it feels better to me, and that’s motivation to keep going, all year, 365 days. I’m betting I can even find things to clean up out here during the Winter months too.
If that doesn’t happen though, and I forget again about the power of these 15 minutes, can someone remind me in the Spring?
I’m going to need all the 15 minutes’ and the 365 days’ that I can get!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.