All I need is ten minutes. I’m notorious for saying those words after a late night, a long day, or in a moment of exhaustion. Ten minutes of sleep. That’s it.
And, it usually works.
I wake up refreshed, ready, and I don’t feel one bit guilty about taking that time for myself.
So, why can’t I apply the same philosophy to my writing: ten minutes, no guilt?
Just a few weeks into summer, I posted about how I was taking all my extra time, before my kids got out of school, to write. Before time got swept up in travel to and from baseball and gymnastics and swimming and Up North. And, never mind the grocery shopping and the laundry and Who’s planning on weeding the garden anyway? I swore, early on, I wouldn’t have a minute to spare for writing once summer heated up.
Funny enough, though, I didn’t worry about when I might find time for checking emails or updating my Facebook status or shooting off a tweet or two. Or that nap.
Cue Joanne Tombrakos‘ book, It Takes an Egg Timer: A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life:
You do have enough time–for everything you have to and want to, and then some. It’s just a question of what you are letting get in the way.
I bought Tombrakos’ book ages ago but hadn’t cracked it open. Then, shortly after I wrote my “don’t bother me I’ll be writing” post, I rediscovered it. I was flipping through source material to use at my monthly writing gig with the Seniors, and I saw the Egg Timer book. I thought it might have some good tips, maybe a writing prompt or two.
I don’t remember bookmarking any prompts necessarily, but I do remember reading.
And nodding.
And taking A LOT of notes.
Old-school technology, exactly what I need.
Trombrakos’ concept is simple (and cheap): get yourself a regular egg timer and use it as THE tool to help you focus and to be wise with your time. Spend a good 20 minutes or 60 minutes on writing-related projects, be it social media or novelizing…or blog posts.
Sure, there are a million ways to time yourself, including the iPhone (which I have and have used). But Tombrakos makes a good point when she talks about her history with egg timers, how it’s not just about the simplicity of the mechanism but the meditative (and non-disctracting) qualities of it:
The gentle, unobtrusive tick, tick, ticking of an egg timer fell on my ears like the sound of the ocean. Soothing and calming, I grew to understand it as a set amount of time in which something could be created. In the kitchen it was food. On my desk it would be something else.
My iPhone pulls me away from writing with its easy access to all things online. If I really want to focus my time and attention, I have to put that piece of technology away.
How It Works
The point of using an egg timer is to busy ourselves with what engages us, not what distracts us from our purpose and our path.
MAKE A TO-DO LIST. Simple enough, you say, but don’t overlook the value of a list. It’s precisely when I’m overwhelmed that a such a list becomes my life-saver (or sanity-preserver). I write down the next several writing projects I have to do/want to do, even if I think, “There’s no way.” Just write it down.
SET YOUR PARAMETERS. Tombrakos suggests 20-minute or 60-minute windows of time. I set mine at 10, 30, 0r 60, depending. The numbers aren’t as important as how you use them. Look at your list and figure out which projects warrant more or less time. If you’re having trouble deciding, consider a couple of questions from the book:
How is this task helping to manifest my bigger intentions?
Is is worth setting the egg timer for?
For example, Twitter and Facebook are both a part of my writer’s platform, so I can’t ignore them completely. But I can limit the time I spend fiddling around with them. As Tombrakos says, “Social media never gets a sixty-minute window. NEVER.”
START THE TIMER. Really. Get going. I had to tell myself that the other night when, after settling my kids into bed, I felt beat tired. Beat. It was already close to ten o’clock, and I thought, Surely sleep is the better option. But, my egg timer–this little guy
–was sitting on my desk, looking all cute and what-not but ready to give me the fish-eye if I didn’t get moving.
So I did. For just 30 minutes. And, man, did I feel good afterward.
I don’t use the egg timer every time I sit down to write, and I’m not always as productive with the timer when I do. But, as Tombrakos says, “The egg timer alone is not your answer, but it sure helps.” Especially on those days when writing is the last thing I want to do or the one thing I think I can’t possibly squeeze into my schedule.
What would you do with ten minutes? Or twenty?
You know I’m a fan of this technique and my reliance on Pinky Mac. (You might be interested in reading about the Pomodoro Method.) I, too, like the meditative ticking, which I was able to replicate in digital form with the free pomodairo timer. I think I’ve got a conditioned response to it!
In 10 minutes, I’d probably handle a social media task or emails. With 15 or up, though, I’d tackle my fiction.
Jan, I don’t know about the Pomodoro Method. I’ll look it up. And, I don’t like to give more than 10 minutes to social media either. But I’ve had my days when I keep dipping in and out. It’s so darn tempting.
I find that a small time slot assigned to a project makes me more likely to begin it. Large projects I more easily set aside until later. I like checking off a line item on my To-Do List, the more the merrier. I get less accomplished without one. Blessings to you, Christi…
I’m with you, Carol. Larger projects overwhelm me; breaking it down certainly helps ease the pain!
Cool idea, Christi! So glad you shared it here. And I love your little timer! 😀
~Kathy
Thanks, Kathy. You wouldn’t believe how long I spent searching for the perfect timer. It was like looking high and low for the right notebook before I could start “that novel” 🙂
I use my timer all the time–for writing, for cleaning, for internet surfing… I even wrote a blog post about this technique myself (http://www.catchinghappiness.com/2010/02/in-praise-of-kitchen-timer.html)! I haven’t read this book, though, so I’m going to look for it at my library.
Kathy, I LOVE your post! Thanks for sharing the link here. I especially like the idea of using it to clean, since–yeah–dusting and picking up piles can be a real distraction for me, too.
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