15 minutes

I remember once before I had kids telling a mom who did have kids that I didn't know how to get anything done if I didn't have a 2 hour block of time. And she just kind of looked at me. And I looked at her back.

I am just not a very fast person. One of the reasons why I woke up early in the morning as a teenager is that I needed about 2 hrs to be ready to roll out the door for school. It was the getting dressed, thinking, eating breakfast, thinking, packing my backpack, thinking, fighting with my brothers, thinking. It was very slow and very comforting. Waking up and rushing out has always been unpleasant to me.

So I had kids. At the beginning, any two hour stretch I had was for sleeping. To get 2 hrs to myself, I have to pay for childcare. And I did that sometimes, but generally since I didn't usually have 2 hrs for anything, I didn't get anything done. Or I got things done just barely.

So, dear world, I have finally learned what everyone probably already knows, the power of 15 minutes. I used to fritter away 15 minutes as if nothing of consequence could be accomplished in 15 minutes. But the past 2 months, I've learned a lot about what I can get done in 15 minutes.

Every morning (just about) for the past 2 months, I've written 750 words of whatever. That takes me 15-20 minutes. So I've now accumulated 35-40 THOUSAND words. I've used this space to process thoughts in general but also for my research and other parts of life that need some planning. The practice of writing has made it a bit easier to write my current research project because I'm simply more accustomed to sitting at my computer and spewing words. Writing articles used to be very laborious because I labored over every word. Now I put them down with the expectation that I'll go back through and edit.

Also, I've been lifting weights in my garage for 15 minutes every weekday. After being accustomed to hour-long workouts in the gym, I wasn't sure that 15 minutes would be very useful, but I figured it would be more than nothing. Well, after six weeks of lifting every day using less-than-maximal weights, I tested my maxes. I set personal records on all the lifts I had been doing beating even pre-surgery records.

Obviosuly, there are actually two things going on. First is that 15 minutes is small enough to squeeze around my kids' lives. I write before they wake up. I lift while they are safely tucked in their rooms for quiet time.  Secondly, I'm doing these frequently, basically daily. And 15 minutes a day adds up. 750 words a day is 5250 words a week. 20 squats a day is 100 squats a week.

Vacuuming and mopping used to be huge mental hurdles until I timed them and realized they were 10-15 minute tasks. Now I think, it's not that hard to squeeze that in.

I'm still not a very fast person. I still like a lot of thinking breaks. I certainly don't string together 15 minute tasks into an HOUR OF PRODUCTIVITY!! But I think I've at least learned to value 15 minutes, actually treasure them as little bubbles of awesome. Better late than never.

Little habits

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all!

I haven't been writing here because one of my new habits has been doing some daily personal writing and that kind of wipes out my writing tank.

A couple big changes are in store for 2014. Last year, I really took a hiatus from something that had become routine in my life. Two big things were 1) leading a women's Bible study and 2) writing a paper with my old research group. I've picked both of those back up for this upcoming year and that in order to accomplish those I've had to re-order a few things.

First, for the past 17 days, when I wake up I write 750 words. It takes about 15-20 minutes to do during which my kids are usually downstairs playing with or screaming at each other. I write about anything I want. For the first week, I used 750words.com, but I realized I could do the same thing using WriteMonkey which is a program I usually use to write papers with.

 In the past, writing has been a slow process for me and I've tended to turn things in late. Right now, my goal is to have a draft together by March. That is exceedingly fast turn around for me (because I am slow), so I thought this little habit would at the least prime the pump for writing for real. I usually do a bit of stream of conscious about stuff that happened the previous day, maybe some thinking about stuff I need to do that day, and if I've read some research articles, I summarize what I thought were the important findings and my thoughts on the issues raised. I've found the little habit useful so far, but the jury is still out on whether it will help me write this research paper.

Second, I cancelled my gym membership. Last year was my first year of gym membership, and it was great but devoting 90 minute blocks of time to travel to the gym and workout is a luxury. In order to take back on writing and leading, I gave up long gym sessions. Instead of 90 minutes 2-3 times a week, I aim for 15 min of weightlifting in the garage 5 days a week and two sessions of of loaded carries (take a heavy weight and walk around with it.) 15 minutes a day is very doable. I do it during the kids' quiet times. Even if the kids aren't being quiet, we all can live with me being unavailable for 15 minutes. There is, of course, a limited amount of work that I get done in 15 minutes, but for now, it's a compromise I can live with. And notice, there's no cardio. That's bliss.

The first two habits are well on their way to being established. The third is something that I've been a lot more hit or miss on. I'm trying to read two research articles a day. I was doing well for a week and then I kind of fell off the horse. It is a very productive speed to read at.