“I only have fifteen minutes. I can’t finish this task, so I won’t start.”

How many times have I thought something similar to that? I’d guess hundreds of thousands.

But when a day is made up of dozen of these moments, that’s a lot of opportunities to do something. Especially for a large project when there is rarely the whole 40+ hours to complete it in one go.

Using those little moments can really add up. Four fifteen minute bursts are an hour. No, it’s not the same as an hours focused work, but it is something.

And sometimes just starting is the hardest part.

Before we begin, we don’t know how things will look, what the challenges are, or even how much time we’ll need to finish. Starting often illuminates the answers to those questions, or starts that process.

After all, sometimes it’s not a lack of time, but fear that’s stopping us from starting. And the only way through is …well through.

A couple of quick ideas

If you need some help on ways to start in 5 or 15 minutes, here are a couple that might help.

  • outline the blog post
  • define the problem or project. Just writing down what you want to do can help.
  • write down the questions you have.
  • think of people you could ask for a goal
  • look in you calendar for when you’ll have more time
  • Write one sentence

This post was, in fact, written across the course of the day in 5 and 15 minute moments.