I recently stumbled upon this little gem called the “three-minute rule,” and I thought, “Why not give it a try?” With my chaotic work-life—hundreds of employees, endless emails, and let’s not forget the home front, featuring my three wonderfully nutty dogs—I need all the help I can get!

The idea is simple: if something can be done in three minutes, just do it. Sounds like a lifesaver, right? Except in my world, three minutes is about the time it takes to get sidetracked by a dog barking at absolutely nothing or someone needing an emergency meeting that could’ve been an email. But I digress…

So here’s how it went down when I tried applying this rule. The morning starts with 347 emails staring me down. “Three minutes,” I tell myself. I respond to two, delete five, and then get a call about a crisis that definitely doesn’t follow the three-minute rule. Scratch that—on to the next!

At home, it’s even better. The three-minute rule apparently doesn’t apply to dogs who think they need to go out (again) or decide to engage in a tug-of-war over one toy when they have five. Try explaining time management to dogs. They just stare back like, “We run this house.”

But surprisingly, this rule works—at least in small bursts. When I stick to it, I actually get things done! Those little tasks don’t pile up like laundry on a Sunday, and I feel just a little less like I’m constantly chasing my own tail (or theirs, for that matter).

The moral of the story? The three-minute rule might not solve all the chaos, but it’s a small win in a big, messy world. At least until the dogs start barking again.