Okay, so today I finally got around to trying out that Julius Holmes method everyone keeps mentioning – “5 Simple Steps for Beginners”. Sounded straightforward enough, right? Let me walk you through exactly how my afternoon went wrestling with this thing.
Step 1: Clearing My Headspace
First up was the “Clear Your Headspace” bit. Julius says find a quiet spot. My usual coffee shop corner was packed, so I ended up hiding in my tiny home office with the door closed. Phone got chucked onto the bed – way harder than it sounds! Honestly just sat there staring at my blank notebook for a solid five minutes. Felt weird not grabbing my phone first thing, but that fizzy head-chatter did settle down a tiny bit after a while.
Step 2: Scrawling Down the “Big One”
Next, Step 2: “Write Your One Thing”. Had to pick ONE goal. Man, my brain fought me hard on this. Work project? Groceries? Calling my mom? Ended up scribbling: “Figure out email hell inbox“. It felt stupidly small, but Julius insists beginners should pick something concrete. So, 347 unread emails it was.
Step 3: Chunking It Down
Step 3 is where I almost quit: “Break It Into Baby Steps”. Baby? More like microscopic! I grabbed a timer and forced myself:
- Sort emails ONLY from this week first
- Delete obvious junk immediately
- Star max 10 urgent ones
- Rest? Archive for later doom
Felt ridiculous breaking down email sorting like building a rocket. But hey, instructions are instructions.
Step 4: Doing the Actual Thing
Step 4: “Do the First Tiny Piece”. Set timer for 15 minutes. Hit start. Started deleting trash emails – spam, newsletters I never read. Finger got twitchy wanting to switch tabs after minute two. Kept dragging eyes back to that timer. Deleted maybe 50. Starred three actually important ones. Timer beeped. Stopped IMMEDIATELY like Julius says, even though my brain yelled “Just finish this folder!”. This step physically hurt my multitasking soul.
Step 5: Marking It Done & Breathing
Final Step 5: “Mark Complete & Reset”. Drew a fat checkbox ✔️ next to “Delete obvious junk”. Didn’t feel like a win at all. Stared at that dumb checkbox. Then just sat like Julius advised – no grabbing phone, no jumping to news. Just breathed for two minutes. Felt… unsettlingly quiet. Realized my shoulders weren’t up near my ears anymore.
What Actually Happened?
Truth? I wanted to burn that list halfway through. Felt painfully slow. BUT. My inbox dropped from 347 to 297. Took 15 minutes + the prep steps. Weirdly? That checkbox felt better than expected later. Next time I might pick something bigger than emails, but Julius’s point about breaking stuff down until it feels laughably small? Yeah… kinda works. Beginners, seriously, make those steps microscopic or your brain bounces right off it. Gonna try it tomorrow with writing tasks. See if the magic sticks.
