15 Minutes

It's amazing you know... I go through life thinking there is never enough time for things. More specifically, I think that things are going to take a long time... and so I figure I don't have enough time for them... so I don't start... But everything I'm reading nowadays is telling me to just do it!!

Julia Cameron says that 20 minutes is actually time in which you can get started on something. Everything is created one step at a time. A book is written one page, one paragraph, one sentence at a time. A house is cleaned one room at a time, one corner at a time. A song is written one line at a time. A letter is written one line at a time. So... in 20 minutes, we can actually get quite a bit done... At the very least, we can get started on something. And sometimes I find that is my block... I look and see I only have 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 45 minutes... and I think, "That's not enough time to really get anything done so... might as well just watch TV or surf the internet"... Yeah, amazing I know... Clearly, there is a block for me there... and something that I am being called to move through...

Peter Walsh (organizer/designer) tells us to take a look at our day and see where we actually spend our time. He suggests breaking the day into 15 minute blocks and then writing down what we are doing in those blocks. He suggests keeping track for a week and then seeing where we are "wasting" time... You know, checking email, surfing the internet... His idea has more to do with a workplace environment, but it could easily be transferred to the home as well... How much of our time is spend on this... or that... And where do we really want to spend our time? Where do I want to spend my time???

I say I don't have time to start this project... but is that really the case. Somewhere in me, I feel like I need to complete the project before I can start it... which is quite crazy!!! Some of my projects take me years to complete... so to resist starting them just because I'm not going to be able to finish them in an hour is... pointless!!! What about if I just held it as... I could get started... I could edit one page... I could work on it for 15 minutes... I could complete this tiny piece... I could complete this other tiny piece. If I break up my projects into discrete, manageable pieces then... I think I could do it... I could see each 15 minute or 20 minute chunk as a time that is pregnant with possibilities... Time is what we make of it... If I think it won't be enough... then it won't... but if I think it is enough... then it will be enough!!