Ever wondered why it is when you go into some peoples homes, they’re always spic and span. You give your house a thorough clean each week the same as they do, yet the next day your house looks a mess again. I’ll let you into a little secret – the house that’s always clean has someone living in it that uses a super-power. It’s a power we all have, and it’s a power we can all use. It’s the power of one – one minute that is. Never under estimate what a difference just a minute can make.

Here’s a few things that will take just a minute while waiting for the kettle to boil, or the toast to pop up.

Wipe over the bench

Unload the dishwasher

Put away a few items that have been left around (keep on top of clutter)

Wipe over the doors of the microwave and oven

Dust a couple of cabinets

Remove that cobweb you noticed earlier

Water the pot-plants, and dust their leaves

Wipe over the canisters that live on your kitchen bench

Throw out old newspapers and the pamphlets that came in the mail

Give a quick tidy up to a pantry shelf

You get the idea….. Say you boil the kettle for five drinks in a day, instead of standing there waiting for the kettle to boil, use that minute to do a little task. Those little tasks add up. Once you’ve discovered what can be done in just one minute, you’ll be finding lots of usable minutes in your day.

My husband regularly stops on his return from walking the dog to pull a few weeds from the garden as he’s walking up the driveway. It takes him less than a minute to gather what he can carry in one hand. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but that hand full of weeds pulled  daily over a week makes a big difference to the ongoing appearance of the garden, and an even bigger difference to the time needed between giving the full garden a good weeding.

Similarly, twice a week I get picked up by a friend, and taken to our walking group. Rather than stand outside doing nothing while waiting, I’ll often take my secatuers out with me and dead head a few roses. A minute or so on those two days a week keeps this job almost completely under control. Doing that bit of dead heading during a time that would otherwise be spent just waiting, means it never becomes an actual job that needs my time at all.

The minutes add up and create a snowball effect. Not only will your house have that  ‘just cleaned’ look constantly, but when you do get time for the big clean, it’ll be a much easier job.

So that’s the little secret behind those homes you visit that never have anything out of place. The person who lives there may not know it, but they do have a super power.  My bet is their power is so automatic they aren’t even aware they have it. Watch them closely and you’ll see, they’ll be using the ‘power of one’.

Footnote: I’m aware of the power of one (minute) and I try to habitually use it. It does make a huge difference, and I mean huge. It’s not automatic yet, but I’m working on it!