Alright, so people keep asking about this ’10 9 5′ thing I mentioned offhand. It’s nothing fancy, really. Just something I started doing when things felt like they were piling up everywhere. You know the feeling, like you’re wading through mud just to get through the day.
It wasn’t some big revelation. I was just fed up. Too much clutter, too many things half-started, too much noise in my head. Needed to just… simplify. Get a grip. So I cooked up this little routine for myself. Maybe I read it somewhere, maybe I just pulled it out of thin air, can’t really remember. Doesn’t matter.
Here’s what I started doing:
First thing, usually after coffee because nothing happens before coffee, I’d tackle the 10. This was about finding ten small, annoying little tasks. The kind you always put off. You know, like finally changing that lightbulb, replying to that text you’ve ignored for three days, clearing off that one corner of the desk that’s become a dumping ground, making that phone call you dread. Just tiny stuff. I’d list ’em out on a scrap of paper.
- Actually finding ten things some days was a task in itself.
- Crossing them off felt… okay. Not life-changing, but it was something done. Cleared a bit of mental fog, maybe.
Next up was the 9. Nine minutes. That’s it. I’d set a timer on my phone. Pick one bigger thing I was avoiding, like starting that report, or figuring out that confusing bill, or whatever felt heavy. For those nine minutes, that was the only thing I was allowed to focus on. No email, no phone scrolling, just that one task. Honestly? Sometimes I just stared blankly for the whole nine minutes. Felt stupid. But other times, I’d actually get a paragraph written, or figure out the first step. The point wasn’t to finish it, just to actually touch it, you know? Make it less scary for later.
Then came the 5. This one felt weird at first, but turned out to be pretty important. I’d look at my massive mental list of ‘should-dos’. Then I’d deliberately pick five things to just… drop. For today, at least. Things that weren’t urgent, things I only felt vaguely obligated to do, things that honestly wouldn’t matter if they waited another day or week. Maybe ‘researching the perfect new blender’ or ‘organizing the garage’. Just consciously deciding: Nope. Not today.
Did it fix everything? Hell no. Life’s still messy. Some days I skipped it entirely because, well, life happens. But doing this most days seemed to help. It broke the feeling of being completely stuck. The 10 cleared away some annoying static. The 9 sometimes actually tricked me into starting something important. And the 5? That gave me breathing room. Stopped me from drowning in my own unrealistic expectations.
So yeah, that’s the 10 9 5 thing I was doing. It’s rough, it’s simple, maybe a bit dumb. But it was practical. It was something I could do instead of just worrying. Helped me just put one foot in front of the other. Maybe it helps someone else, maybe not. Just sharing what I did.
