I don’t have time to do that cool thing I’ve been wanting to do.

For me, it’s side projects. This could be some iOS app I wanted to write or something I wanted to build at home. But it often starts as a thought like “this is going to take a lot of time and I don’t have that sort of time.”

Wrong.

I do have time.

How?

Just do it.

Only, instead of doing all of it, just start it. Commit 15 minutes to it. That may turn into more than just 15 minutes.

I’ve heard this idea from a few different sources in the past. Just get started, and the rest will come. So I’m going to try something new (to me) based on this idea. Every day, there’s something that I want to do that I think I don’t have time to complete. So every day when I think of that thing, I’m going to commit myself to just 15 minutes.

My goal is twofold - to be productive, and to filter out those projects I don’t really care about.

First, let’s talk about getting productive. I can commit myself to 15 minutes of doing something each day. Even if those 15 minutes amount to nothing, that’s not much time lost. But if I get into what I’m working on, I’m likely to continue working on it until I honestly don’t have any more time that day. And when that happens, look! I was productive! Goal met!

But the other side of that is what if I don’t really get into what I’m working on? What if I’m 15 minutes into it and I’m bored or find other more important things to do? Then look! Right here, I can meet goal number two - filter out the projects I don’t really care about. If I can’t get into the project and I never get anything done because I’m only ever spending 15 minutes on it, then it’s clearly not important to me. So get rid of it. It’s a waste of time.

So look at me! I’m about to get a whole lot more productive.

This post is part of a weekly Blog Battle started by some of my coworkers. The idea is that each week, a title is chosen and everyone writes a post based on not a topic, but just the title, and let each author interpret it in his own way. The title for this week is “I Don’t Have Time”.