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Woman makes a show out of timing how long it actually takes to do tasks she puts off doing

She's being hailed the "more relatable, Marie Kondo" for how she inspires people to tackle their own put off tasks.

@christinewrutzen/TikTok

Not all heroes wear capes.

We can all be guilty of convincing ourselves that certain tasks will take wayyyyyyy longer than they actually do. Those mountainous piles of clothes that need to be folded (or is it washed? who can tell anymore), the fridge that desperately needs old condiments thrown out, removing whatever entity is behind that couch…

No matter what chore we’re procrastinating on, odds are we are making it way more herculean than it actually is. And now, thanks to one brave—and very entertaining—soul, we have definitive proof.

In her super-viral TikTok series titled “How Long Does It Actually Take,” fellow procrastinator Christi Newrutzen dons a pair of sunglasses, comfy clothes, and a newscaster-worthy microphone as she times herself doing dull tasks she’s put off…some upwards of a couple of years.

It’s really the perfect combo of charming deadpan delivery, relatability, and eye-opening discoveries that make these videos so impactful. In the clip below, Newrutzen puts away two loads of laundry, which she had been putting off for 11 days.

Armed with her laptop (because she always has to watch something while doing laundry) Newrutzen managed to do it all in just 28 minutes.

@christinewrutzen I dont know if it looks like it but it was in fact 2 loads of laundry 😂 and I always have to be watching something while I put away laundry otherwise it's like a death sentence 🥲 #cleantok #laundry #homeimprovement #clothes #adhd#executivedysfunction #organization ♬ Boss Bitch - Doja Cat

In another video, Newrutzen finally schedules a dentist appointment. After three years of avoiding it, the whole thing only took nine minutes.

@christinewrutzen i dont know why this took me soooooooo long to do, but MAN do I feel so much better now, please don't judge me, this was hard 🥲 #procrastination #dentist #appointment #cleantok #organization #adhd #executivedysfunction #homeimprovement ♬ original sound - Christi Newrutzen

Newrutzen also handles bigger tasks, like organizing the garage. This did end up taking a little over an hour. But considering the shelves have apparently “never not looked like this,” it’s still safe to assume this was undeniably less taxing than she assumed it would be.

@christinewrutzen This one took me out, I was really not feeling it by the end 😩 ill have to take out all that stuff to the dumpster later 😅 #cleantok #cleaning #organizing #garage #procrastination ♬ two - bbno$

Newrutzen’s longest task to date seems to be repainting a chest of drawers she bought discounted in hopes of refurbishing. It was a project she started two years ago, and hadn’t touched since. This technically took her 23 hours, including waiting for paint to dry and whatnot. But the actual time spent working on said project was an hour and four minutes.

@christinewrutzen Feels so good to have this finished omg 😩😮💨 #procrastination #homerenovation #spraypaint #homeproject #checklist ♬ UNSTOPPABLE EVENING - finetune

If this is inspiring you to finally conquer your own ever ending to-do list, you’re not alone. So many people shared how Newrutzen’s videos gave them the gumption to tackle their chores. Lo and behold, they made the same discoveries she did!

“I timed how long it took me to match the freaking socks last night,” one viewer wrote. “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 shared. “42 seconds!!!!!!”

Others just chimed in to praise Newrutzen for her contribution.

“You are the new, more relatable, Marie Kondo,” one person gushed.

“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,” said another.

productivity, marie kondo, getting things done, to do list, chores, procrastination An assortment of stick notes on a car steering wheelImage via Canva

Newrutzen told Upworthy that the response to her series has equally inspired her to do more.

"It feels incredible to know my videos are having this kind of impact on people and also I am finally getting stuff done that I've needed to do for years," she said, adding that she continues surprising herself with how quickly she gets certain tasks done. Unloading the dishes, for example, took around 5 minutes. "Dishes are literally the bane of my existence but seeing it through that perspective has helped me a lot!"

Next time you find yourself putting off that thing (you know the one), remind yourself that it likely won’t take nearly as long as your brain tells you it will. Maybe even take a page from Newrutzen’s book and time yourself doing it to get that hard data. Because, even though perfection is impossible, having something so minuscule take over valuable brain space is just plain stressful…more stressful than actually doing the thing.

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Pop Culture

John Cena drops unexpectedly profound wisdom about life and purpose on Kai Cenat livestream

His question, "Did I earn the sunset?" got people thinking.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

John Cena speaking at the 2016 Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest

When you think about philosophers pondering the purpose of life, WWE wrestlers may not be the first people who come to mind. But professional wrestling star John Cena has been known to challenge perceptions, and in a surprise appearance on Kai Cenat's livestream, he's done it once again.

Kai Cenat is one of the most popular Twitch and YouTube streamers, with millions of viewers. In a clip from Cenat's stream that has gone viral, Cena explains how his view of his purpose in life has evolved and how he reflects on how he's living his life each day.

"I used to think I was put on Earth to be a wrestler. That was it. I was put on Earth to be a WW superstar," he said. "And then I started doing a little bit of acting and I'm like oh no, it's easy, I'm a storyteller. No, I'm a human being, breathing air like everybody else. And I'm significantly insignificant. I'm a grain of sand on a beach on a pale blue dot out in the middle of nowhere."

"I just want to be useful," he continued. "Life, to me, is a gift."

He explained that he understands he's been given "lottery ticket after lottery ticket after lottery ticket" in his life. "I am lucky," he said. "I understand my luck and I try to live each day grateful for my luck. So when the sun goes down, I look at what I did for the day, even if it's relax—did I earn the sunset? Some days I don't, and I motivate myself to try to do it again, but most days I do. And that's my sense of purpose."

Watch:

People loved Cena's thoughtful self-awareness and praised him for being a good example, especially for young men who might look online for examples of healthy masculinity.

Here are some things people said they learned from this clip:

"John Cena is actually smarter and cooler than I thought which in turn tells me that forming my opinions based on the few snippets i have seen online makes me judgemental and quite ignorant. I hope I remember this lesson and not rush to judge people I know almost nothing about."

"To be useful, To be grateful, To be productive, to be mentally wired to try again no matter what and lastly to have great self awareness."

"Reflect on your day, and what are you going to do better tomorrow."

"That the meaning of life is to be in the service of others. That everything from greed, pride, envy, etc is just type of self service, moving us away from the meaning, happiness, and purpose we can derive by living our lives for others."

"Humility, Accountability, and Gratitude."

"Do your best every single day so you can feel happy about yourself at the end of the day it's also okay to fall, just get up and try again."

"'Did I earn the sunset'? is an incredible line. That's gonna stick with me."

Cena talked with Cenat for about an hour in a wide-ranging conversation that ended with another motivational drop.

“Wow, this has been fun and here we are sharing a moment together—hopefully a moment of motivation, purpose, growth," said Cena as the stream wrapped up. "I guess if I would have to bestow some advice, take it if you want it. If not? It’s just advice. I would say, ‘Never give up.’ And that widens out to whatever lens you wanna put it in. I think as long as we’re breathing, we have a chance. We’re all eventually gonna get to the finish line.

"So, I don’t know. If you just attack every day with persistence and effort and follow your excitement and enthusiasm and never give up, especially through those hard times—'cause I’m not gonna act like it’s all roses and candy canes, there’ll be a bunch of hard times—just do your best, try to do the best you can, and never give up.”

Cena shares positive motivational messages on X in addition to interviews and has made a name for himself in the public eye as a genuine good guy. In an online environment where "influencers" are not always the greatest role models, it's refreshing to see a demonstrably "manly" man so unabashedly demonstrate self-reflection and humility.

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Olympian Alexi Pappas' 'Rule of 3rds' for dealing with bad days is solid advice for us all

Great perspective—whether you're an elite athlete or not.

Rich Roll/Youtube

Not getting derailed by bad starts by accepting that they're bound to happen.

In many ways, it’s our relationship to the bad days, not the good ones, that have the biggest influence on our success.

Sure, those magical moments when our physical abilities, motivation, energy levels and creativity all just seem to click into place are glorious. But these are never the days when people are at risk of giving up on their dreams. It’s when things get hard, that our vision becomes blurry.

Few folks can attest to this quite like elite athletes. Sure, their physical prowess is next level, but their mindset is every bit as disciplined, and part of the mental fortitude comes from managing expectations.

Recently Olympian runner Alexi Pappas shared a bit of reframing that completely changed the way she viewed her own bad days. And rest assured—this is solid advice, whether you're going for a gold medal, or simply trying to get out of bed each day.

While appearing on the Rich Roll Podcast in 2021, Pappas shared the “Rule of Thirds” advice, which she writes about in her book Bravey, and was given to her by her coach after a particularly hard day on the track.

This was how he defined the “Rule of Thirds”:

“When you’re chasing a dream, you’re meant to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time.”

The Rule of Thirds is a great way to truly assess whether things are in balance. If you’re having too many crappy days, allow for some recovery. If you’re having too many easy breezy or okay days, maybe it’s time to work a little harder. As long as you’re within the ratio, you are still moving towards your goal. No second guessing necessary.

It also reminds us that poor days are an integral part of the growth process, allowing us to accept, perhaps even embrace them. But either way, we are better able to show up for ourselves.

And trust, showing up, even on the bad days, is key. Pappas has experienced this both in her athletic and creative endeavors as a filmmaker.

“On those days, where the creativity doesn’t come or it doesn't feel great…you still show up. Because maybe that’s your crappy day. But it doesn’t mean that you quit the goal. It doesn’t mean you freak out. It means that you show up and live through that dip…because you're chasing a dream.”

We’ve heard a thousand times that progress is not linear. And yet, that bit of wisdom is often the first thing we forget once things aren’t working out and the negative mental chatter starts setting in. So it’s great to know a) that even high achieving Olympians struggle with bad days too and b) we can incorporate the same coping strategies they use into our own goals.

Bottom line: bad days part of the process. Let them be the helpful guides they are along the path to realizing your vision.

If you’d like to catch the full podcast episode, which has a ton of other mindset gems, watch below.

Achieving Audacious Dreams: Alexi Pappas Is Bravey | Rich Roll Podcastwww.youtube.com

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Science

The simple, yet powerful shift that can actually keep you motivated

Andrew Huberman breaks down what people can do to stick to their goals—and it's surprisingly easy.

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Maybe we're focusing on the wrong thing.

There are a bajillion and one approaches out there when it comes to goal-setting, usually in the form of clever acronyms to remind us all of just how easy achieving our dreams can be. (Did you know there are more than just SMART goals? There are also HARD goals, WOOP goals, and OKR goals, according to Indeed.)

Still, despite the countless productivity tips, consistent motivation is something many of us struggle with. And while there can be serious factors causing this, like external stress or underlying mental health issues, it’s generally just a common thing people deal with. It’s really hard to keep your “eye on the prize” day in and day out, isn’t it?

But what if we shifted our perspective on what exactly the “prize” is in this scenario? According to neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, it could mean a lot.

If you somehow have never heard of Andrew Huberman, he does deep dives on a wide range of complex scientific topics on his popular Huberman Lab podcast, explaining them in ways that are both easy to understand and applicable to everyday life.

Huberman regularly discusses the benefits of working with your body’s dopamine, i.e., pleasure hormone, in order to be more productive. In the case of staying motivated, he encourages people to make a mindset shift where they access pleasure from hard work rather than achievement.

Huberman notes that when we focus only on the “win” and work only for the sake of reward, it actually makes the required hard labor that much harder and less desirable, and generally makes us less likely to pursue more hard work in the future.

The concept of intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation became quite mainstream thanks to a well-known study conducted in 1973 in which researchers at Stanford gathered young children ages 3 to 5 who liked to draw and started rewarding them for drawing. After a while, the researchers stopped giving out the rewards, which caused a drop in interest among the children.

Bottom line: We garner less pleasure from activities when we begin to associate that pleasure with rewards, rather than the activity itself. That even goes for activities we naturally enjoy.

From a dopamine perspective, Huberman explains that if the “peak” in dopamine levels you get comes from a reward, it’s going to lower your baseline dopamine levels, which then signals to your brain that pleasure = reward, not pleasure = challenging activity, which is not always sustainable.

Luckily, there’s a way to rewire this perspective by incorporating a growth mindset.
mindset, growth mindset, motivation

Anyone can cultivate a growth mindset.

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Having a growth mindset, a term coined by Carol Dweck, means viewing one’s mind as always being at the starting point, and focusing on deepening a love of learning through engaging in challenges, rather than trying to accomplish an end goal. Those who have this view have time and time again achieved great things, but only as a byproduct of willingly engaging in the effort for its own sake.

And the best part is anyone can cultivate this mindset.

“You can tell yourself the effort part is the good part. I know it’s painful. I know this doesn’t feel good. But I’m focused on this. I’m going to start to access the reward,” Huberman says.

Repeating this over and over again—especially during the most difficult parts—will eventually make that growth mindset sink in, and it will extend to all types of effort.

In other words, sometimes it is good to lie to ourselves.

Watch Huberman's full podcast episode on motivation and dopamine below. It’s full of other science-based gems.

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