I’m not sure why I love breaking things up into “fives.” It’s such an easy-to-accomplish number: grade five papers; clean for five minutes; pray over these five things; just do five minutes of this hard-to-do task. (I used to think ten minutes was ideal for this sort of thing, but if you lack activation energy, say you’ll do the thing you don’t want to do for just five minutes. It’s so much easier.)
My five things this afternoon? Grading five long-form essays. If I grade more, that’s fine. This manageable goal gives me a sense of accomplishment. With such encouragement, I often grade five more.
We need some wins today. We need some encouragement that we’re getting things accomplished. Do five minutes. Finish the five things.
And then maybe you’ll do five more.