What can you accomplish in 15 minutes?

It doesn’t sound like much time, but how we interpret 15 minutes is a matter of perspective. Fifteen minutes of scrolling on your phone goes by in a flash, but 15 minutes on the treadmill can feel pretty intense. A 15-minute drive seems short, but 15 minutes of sitting in traffic is excruciating. 

What about 15 minutes of writing time? The idea originated from my frustration. I was setting the alarm for 5:00 a.m. with the goal of writing for exactly one hour every day before the 6:00 cut-off when I had to start getting ready for work.

It sounded doable, but realistically, I wasn’t at the desk and actively writing until 5:15 at best. That means I was only writing for 45 minutes. I was consistently falling short of my one-hour goal, and I was frustrated. If I happened to hit snooze, I was really beating myself up.

That’s when an idea hit me. Why not set a time goal that I could absolutely achieve? So, I set a goal to write for 15 minutes every morning. It doesn’t sound like much, but it's a bare minimum I can master, so at least I don’t feel like a failure anymore. And this simple productivity hack is working!

At first, I thought this was an original idea. But then I realized my 15-minute goal borrows from things I’ve read and methods I’ve tried. In fact, three specific resources come to mind.

• First, there’s the Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. You completely focus on your work for 25 minutes, and then you take a five minute break. You repeat these steps a few times and then allow yourself a 20-minute break. It’s a great technique if you have a few hours to focus on your writing, but when trying to squeeze writing in before work, it might not be so realistic. However, the focused interval idea is what works here.

• This idea is also related to James Clear’s Atomic Habits. He has shown the world that monumental changes can be made in small, incremental steps. It just takes commitment. According to Clear, we need to set an “implementation intention.” He suggests completing this sentence: “I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].” My commitment was to write every morning in my home office, and I was making my goal achievable by committing to 15 minutes.

• Finally, I have to acknowledge the brilliant Ann Lamott and the beautiful book that is a must-read for writers, Bird by Bird. Lamott’s title is drawn from a family experience. Her brother, at 10 years old, had procrastinated on a bird project for school that he’d had months to complete. When he asked how he would ever get it done, Lamott’s father responded, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

Bird by bird. Fifteen minutes at a time. I’m back on track with my goals of revising a stale manuscript, completing a new project, reaching out to literary agents, and capturing ideas and outlines for future projects before they dissolve into the ether. I haven’t found more time; I’ve just shifted my perspective about the time I have.

If I only end up writing for 15 minutes, I don’t feel like a failure. But most of the time, that alarm goes off and I set it for another 15 minutes. And then another. Most mornings, I’m writing for at least 45 minutes – which is no different from what I was achieving when I had hoped for an hour. But now, I’m not feeling like a failure. I’ve hit my goal three times over!

This seems so silly, but perspective is really a powerful thing. And. guess what? You can apply it to any overwhelming tasks. You may not be able to clean the entire house in 15 minutes, but maybe you can clean a bathroom. You may not be able to reorganize your office, but you can tackle one drawer. Set a timer for 15 minutes and see what you can do.

I'm not alone in this thinking. Check out the article on medium.com entitled “15-Minute Tasks That Will Change Your Life.” The article begins, “Go to bed at night with the warm feeling that you’ve been productive for at least 15 minutes despite your circumstances.” There’s that perspective again. The article goes on to list a bunch of wonderful, life-giving tasks that can be performed in 15 minutes.

If you’re a writer, I hope your goals are rolling forward and you’ve found a workflow that works for you. However, if you’re struggling to find time to write and you keep coming up short and experiencing frustration, maybe you can find 15 minutes that will reshape your perspective. And pretty soon, you’ll probably find 15 more. And then 15 more.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in just 15 minutes.