As a single parent with three kids, a full-time job and all the responsibilities that come with that, finding time to pursue my dream used to be next to impossible. Working on my novel got shoved to the bottom of my to-do list every night and I’d go to bed bitter because I had so little time to myself. And to top it all off, I’m a very ‘all or nothing” kind of person, meaning that if I couldn’t dedicate myself 100% to the book then I wouldn’t work on it at all.
Obviously, something needed to change. The kids weren’t moving out anytime soon so that meant I had to do the changing, I had to re-adjust my expectations and accept the fact that even if I couldn’t write for hours every night, I could write for one hour. Or half an hour. Or even fifteen minutes. Yes, even fifteen minutes of working on my joy filled up my soul and lifted my spirits.
By dedicating myself to writing even those few short minutes, I was keeping my promise to myself. I was telling myself that I was worth the effort. And it worked. Some days I could bang out an entire page, sometimes only a paragraph, but no matter how little I wrote I was making progress—I was thinking about my book, planning what would happen next and even coming up with ideas for my next novel.
Fifteen minutes a day. That’s all it takes. Your dream is worth it. You are worth it. The clock is ticking….go for the joy. Now.
1 year ago
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2 comments:
Well said... I'm pretty much in the same boat. What you've suggested may just be that light at the end of the tunnel. I'm gonna try this one out.
Ro
Fifteen minutes is a LOT!!!
Especially done in JOY. Because you'd be focused. One of the great tricks Heminway revealed is always knowing what you are going to start with the next day.
If you write for fifteen minutes, presumably, the next day, while you are waiting for your fifteen minutes, you can anticipate how well you will use them...how focused you will be..
How's it going so far?
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