Like so many things we enjoy doing, writing can fade into the background of our busy lives. How do we find time to write?
In this post, I’ll share what’s helped me.
An important first step is to ask ourselves why we write—taking our time to answer; going deep.
A key second step is to take stock of what is making our lives so busy.
As the things we collect over time can become clutter in our homes, making it hard for us to maintain good health, find space for comfort, or function efficiently, our daily routines can become cluttered. We often mindlessly fill daily schedules with overvalued, unnecessary tasks. And other tasks that once held value develop into habits that no longer serve us.
Like the clutter that can accumulate and fill homes wall to wall, and sometimes, floor to ceiling, multiple tasks can creep into our lives and jam it; blocking the way toward doing what we truly value and enjoy. But, like when we take stock of the things in our homes, dividing these things into categories of keep, sell, or trash, we can examine our daily routines and put our tasks into categories of keep, delegate, or cease.
When I worked as a Project Manager in the custom-exhibit manufacturing industry, with its crazy deadlines and overlapping projects, I’d began working many an evening and weekend. Initially, during the truly busy times, these extra hours were necessary and useful. But, when the extra demanding projects ended, I’d keep working these additional hours, mindlessly giving up the time and energy I needed to take part in my personal life—the extra hours of work becoming a habit.
It wasn’t until I took mindful stock of how I was using my time that I realized what was once valuable was now just a habit with no true usefulness, and instead, was costing me too much time and energy and taking me away from what I truly wanted to do.
With the same method in which I examined my work habits, I looked at my daily tasks, taking stock of how I filled my daily routine.
Here are some questions I asked myself:
What purpose does this task serve? Is it still useful? Has it ever been useful?
Has this task lost its value and turned into an unnecessary habit?
Am I enjoying this task? Does it give me satisfaction, pleasure, or joy?
Can I do this task more efficiently? Can I do this task less often?
Can I stop doing it altogether?
Does it matter if I postpone this task? Who benefits from it?
Can another person do this task and free up my time?
The answers to these questions, and others you may come up with, can be enlightening. Often, the results are dramatic and immediate… with positive intention, of course.
Many of us remember to every so often remove the clutter from our homes, thus freeing up both physical and emotional space—and providing the breathing room we need to move about with comfort and ease.
In the same way, learning to evaluate regularly our daily routines can better organize, and often eliminate unnecessary tasks, and make room for experiences that give us a genuine sense of fulfillment—which for some of us, includes writing.
How do we find time to write?
