A friendly, judgment-free guide to taming procrastination, ending overwhelm, finishing projects, and accomplishing goals

Modern life often seems like an endless list of things that need our attention: the garage that needs cleaning, those photos that need organizing, the email that needs answering. The result is that feeling of anxiety and frustration called overwhelm. Some people cope by procrastinating and letting the work pile up, while others relentlessly push themselves to do more in a frantic (and futile) effort to get everything done. With that in mind, Sam Bennett presents an idea that’s counterintuitive — and maybe even a bit subversive: overwhelm is not something caused by the outside world; it’s something that happens in our own minds. Overwhelm arises from wrong assumptions about productivity, and it can be conquered by a simple change in mindset. That process begins with Bennett’s astonishingly simple time-management system.

The 15-Minute Method throws a lifeline to the overworked professional, the creative with too many unfinished projects, and the parent who rarely has a free moment. Bennett helps readers tackle the biggest causes of overwhelm by showing them how to:

• tactfully say no to extra work when people put them on the spot
• get rid of mental and physical clutter
• let go of perfectionism, self-doubt, impostor syndrome, and other unhealthy attitudes
• break intimidating tasks into a series of manageable chunks
• create new routines and schedules that support a balanced life

Based on hard-won experience, The 15-Minute Method isn’t just about productivity hacks or working more efficiently. Instead, it asks us to adjust our outlook and realize an important truth: we don’t achieve more simply by doing more — we achieve more by doing more of the things that matter.