I’m sure it’s fairly obvious to regular readers that Annastasia is the organised, systematic one, and I’m the chaotic one that gets stuff done last minute and in random order.

However, a friend recently introduced me to the idea of five-minute bursts of action. It sounded right up my street.

The rules are:

• Choose something to focus on – a room, a pile, a digital task (like emails)
• Set a timer, preferably not on your phone (because distractions) for five minutes exactly
• Hit start
• GO!
• You can change tasks for the next set of five minutes. However, for this stretch of time, until the timer pings, you focus exclusively on that one thing you chose.

It’s like the Pomodoro technique on speed and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.

My kitchen was looking like a seaside explosion had hit it. I returned from my holiday with sandy, seaweedy mermaid tails and rather a lot of washing. Applying burst action to my kitchen. I blitzed the lot faster than I thought possible.

Now my living room is also my hallway. And it serves as an Ink Drops and RunAway Days store cupboard. Plus I’m using it as an office. Suddenly I had space to sit down and wasn’t tripping over stuff anymore.

Stuff was rather dangerously piled on my desk… now I can see, and move my mouse, and everything.

Magical stuff. It’s so simple, but easily one of the most effective methods I’ve used in my adult life. I feel that I’ve regained control over my surroundings. Because sometimes it’s all getting a bit too chaotic for even my liking.

What could you do in five minutes??