We all know we have 24 hours in a day, right? And that is the only commodity whose amount cannot be changed or negotiated for. We have 24 hours, no more, no less. Done! 

Case studies 

But I have heard at least a few times from my coaching clients that they have “created time out of thin air” (in two cases, these exact words were used). That got me curious. I asked for details. 

Here is the basic idea: we tend to move through the day, spending time unconsciously on things that don’t really matter. In current times, reading about Coronavirus (more than you need to to keep safe and up to date) is a good example. (You know if you are reading more than you really need to.) Reading excessive news in general is a good example, but it is not limited to news. I have gone through a phase where I would read endless medium articles in hope of finding an elixir of all my life maladies, and of course read all sorts of random articles. Getting lost in Wikipedia blackhole or endless (infinite) Facebook feed is another good example of what we are talking about. 

Instead of spending time without awareness, here is what we did for part of this time. 

With the two coaching clients I mentioned, we came up with an idea to spend a few minutes on their passion project (in one case, learning python for 15 minutes, and another case, doing strategy work for the organization for 30 minutes). They had amazing results after 4 weeks and 1 week respectively. They felt they got a lot done during this extra time.

And here is the kicker: I asked them what they lost out on as a result of spending time on this passion project. And the answer was… you guessed it… nothing. They could not recall anything that they missed out on. 

This is what they meant by “creating time out of thin air”. 

The method to create time out of thin air

Do you want to create time out of thin air? If yes, please read on! 

Decide on a nominal amount of time you can spend on something meaningful to you, something that matters. It might be calling your parents, or practicing guitar, or learning a new language, or journalling or anything else. Don’t use willpower to do this. Just make the time small enough so that no willpower or motivation is needed. If 15 minutes is too long, think 5 minutes. If 5 minutes of doing that project is too much, think 1 minute. Even shorter time frames have worked for some people. In one case, I helped someone got started with 15 seconds of “work” (and of course, they “graduated” to a few minutes quickly).  

Then decide what time of the day you will spend that much time on what you decided. And just spend that much time. Put an alarm if you think you will forget. Doing this early in the morning is a great idea, so the stresses of life don’t take over later in the day. Remember, think small. One minute is totally okay. 

Ask yourself at the end of one week if you missed out on anything as a result of spending time on this passion project. If you cannot put your finger on anything specific, then does it mean you have created time out of thin air? 

What is there to lose?