The 5-Minute Rule

A few months ago, I was reading the Knitter's Review, which mentioned the 10-minute rule. It is basically like it sounds -- work on things for 10 minutes a day until they're done. Well, I have a bad attention span, so I made it the 5-minute rule. I began by applying it to the binary scarf (done knitting!), as well as some personal projects. It's funny, but I seem to work on things for more than 5 minutes once I get started! (I guess that's part of the point.)

Since I need a few hours to block the scarf, which I won't have until the weekend, I've been working on a few other things in the meantime. I pulled out a loom hat that's been languishing and did 5+ rows last night. I found my loom sock and gave it some much-needed attention. But since these are fun things, I've also tried to balance them with not-fun things.

Example: I have a craft room. Most of the stuff from my craft room is on my desk in the office. So every time I finish a row on the sock, I have to put 3 things away. So far I've managed to organize most of my needles, actually find (and keep together) darning needles, and put away balls of yarn I haven't used in months. Ultimately I'd like to find my flexible measuring tape, but one step at a time, you know?

The 5-minute rule has definitely helped me make progress on things, even though I haven't applied it to all my UFOs. Have you given this rule a try? How has it benefited you?