A Woman Is Going Viral For Timing How Long Unpleasant Tasks Actually Take
And she is a hero.
I have items that have been on my to-do list for literal years. The tasks just seem so unpleasant and overwhelming and time-consuming that I can never quite get myself to bite the bullet and do them. And apparently, I am not alone.
There’s a new super-viral TikTok account that has a very simple concept: A woman named Christi Newrutzen simply times herself to see how long her most unpleasant and most procrastinated tasks take when she actually sits down and does them. Her calling cards are a cheesy pair of sunglasses, house clothes, slippers, and a full-sized microphone.
Guess what? On top of it being super-funny and charming, it is so incredibly inspiring.
The videos are called “How Long Does It Actually Take,” and the account has gained almost 300,000 followers in a matter of weeks.
In one video, she discovers that the pantry that she’s been putting off cleaning for a full year took just 27 minutes to bring back from chaos.
In another, she discovers it took just nine minutes to make a dentist appointment that she’d been avoiding for three years.
In a third, she organizes her garage shelving which “has never not looked like this” in just over an hour.
Are you inspired to tackle a uber-procrastinated home project yet?
In another recent video, Newrutzen thanked her new followers, and many thanked her in return.
“You are the new, more relatable, Marie Kondo,” one person wrote.
“Paid my taxes early because of you! Avoided late fees by not procrastinating,” another person said. “It took me 5 minutes.”
“I washed the windows,” someone else shared. “It took 1 hour and 22 minutes. Procrastination time 7 months! You did this not me TBH!”
“You're gently and comically reminding us that the giant, foreboding thing in the corner that we've been dreading for months is not THAT bad if we just do it ✨ TYSM.”
“I live in fear that you'll finish doing all the things you've been procrastinating and stop making videos about doing things you've been procrastinating,” another person said. And same.
Christi is teaching people such important things with her videos.
The first: The thing that you are avoiding will not take very long — or at least not as long as you think.
“I timed how long it took me to match the freaking socks last night,” one viewer shared. “Because of you, I found out it only takes me 15 minutes!! I swore it was an hour long deal.”
“I’ve been staring at a mess in my hallway for about a week now trying to get myself to clean it up and because of your video I did it this morning and it took a total of 42 seconds,” another woman wrote. “42 seconds!!!!!!”
The second thing the videos teach: The mental load and anguish that goes into avoiding tasks like vacuuming the cushions or cleaning your dishwasher filter is so much greater than if you were to just do the thing.
And finally: While there will always be things to do around the house, literally until we die, it only takes a few minutes to make your home more peaceful and more comfortable. Maybe pick one thing a day!
What a fun hack — I feel like I’m actually looking forward to timing how long it takes to clean out my hallway coat closet. I bet it’s not as long as I think.
