Got Any Apples Needing Picking?

It’s autumn and I LOVE this time of year. It always feels like a time of great renewal for me when I plan my year. I do also have winter hibernating tendancies and I love to stock up the larder and freezer and generally bustle around ‘playing house’.

It’s also a time of plenty in the garden. This year in particular my two apple trees have produced a huge glut of fruit which have been hanging over me somewhat reproachfully, as I haven’t actually made more than a couple of pies. Apples are so plentiful here in Somerset that it’s almost impossible to find someone who hasn’t got masses, or access to them.

Of course, in a month or two they won’t be so abundant, so I feel compelled to do something with them now. But the sheer scale of the operation is so daunting that up until now I have just had it on my ‘should do’ pile.

Which is a bit like life in general isn’t it? Sometimes there are just too many possibilities, or a task seems so huge, that we just never get around to making a start and the apples go to waste (or to the birds and wildlife).

However, my choice isn’t a stark one between make hundreds of apple pies or none, although in my head it had become that. I don’t have the time or the energy at the moment to make my over ambitious number pies using all my apples so (in the spirit of the 30 minute rule) today I am going to make three. One to eat, one for my Mum, and one to freeze.  And having made a start, I may make a few more later in the week. The important thing is just to start…

Got any ‘apples’ that need picking this week?

Change Your Life in 30 Minutes?

Is it possible to make significant changes in your life using just 30 minutes of your time each day?

Well, I think so. If you have had a dream or a plan in your head but haven’t yet done anything about it, try the thirty minute plan.

Break it down into several small tasks each lasting about thirty minutes. The important thing is to do something every day and in no time you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goal!

So, if you have a dream to be a senior manager in your organisation, think about your first steps. Maybe you need to find a mentor? Take your first 30 minutes to jot down a list of all possible candidates for that role. Then take another thirty minutes on the next day to compose your request, either email or face to face, whatever seems appropriate in your case. In a week you should have a mentor! Maybe your next step is to look at job specifications for the role you next want. Take 30 minutes on one day to send off for some…I think you’ve got the general idea!

You’ll also find that after about three weeks it becomes something of a habit and easier to do.

It works for all sorts of things. Things you want to do but haven’t got around to, and things you don’t want to do and keep putting it off. 30 minutes is enough time to achieve something worthwhile but not so much time that it feels too daunting!

Just one word of caution; this doesn’t work with dieting! You really do have to do THAT all the time!

For more on this, take a look at this longer article which appeared in a recent newsletter.