In the early weeks of motherhood, my days followed roughly this pattern: breastfeed or pump milk for 20-30 (sometimes as long as 45) minutes; wash bottles, eat, change diaper, do laundry, and/or sleep all within the next hour and a half; repeat. Oh, and try to spend some time with the baby somewhere in there. I tracked my pumping frequency and output for my lactation consultant. As an example, on February 27 of this year, I pumped at 12:15 AM, 2:30 AM, 5:15 AM, 7:45 AM, 10:15 AM, 1:15 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:15 PM, 7:15 PM, and 9:00 PM. (If you haven’t had a baby and are under the mistaken impression that maternity leave is a restful vacation, think again.)
After a week or so of this, my Type A personality kicked in and I decided I needed to be more deliberate about how I was spending my time. So I wrote a list of things I could do while pumping and taped it to my breast pump to motivate me in those foggy early-morning hours. It looked something like this:
- Write in my journal
- Work on a blog post
- Write a thank-you note
- Read an article
- Read a book
- Write in the baby book
- Order photo prints
- Give myself a manicure
- Work on blog administrative tasks
- Listen to a podcast
- Watch a TV show (I generally tried to avoid this)
- Do a DuoLingo lesson
- Place an online grocery order
- Call a friend
- Meditate
It turns out that I could actually get a lot done in 20-30 minutes if I planned ahead, even when I had the constraint of having to sit in one spot. All those 20-minute stints of productivity added up by the end of the day. (Fun fact: I am writing this very blog post over the course of several pumping sessions. It’s when I do most of my writing these days.)
The concept applies at the office too. Sometimes I have the luxury of a full uninterrupted day to really dig into a big project, but on many days, I’m in and out of court hearings and other meetings throughout the day, leaving periods of 15 minutes, half an hour, or an hour to do my research and writing. If I’m not careful, it’s easy to fritter away those chunks of time without accomplishing much, and then 5:00 rolls around and I wonder where the day went. Having a list of quicker tasks or broken-down parts of bigger projects can really help me to stay focused and get more done.
There are a number of short periods of time in all of our days that can easily be wasted if we aren’t prepared to use them well. Think about the routine occasions when you’re stuck somewhere, not really doing anything productive, just waiting for something to happen. The few minutes before a meeting begins; time spent in a reception room or waiting area before an appointment; transit or commuting time; waiting for a friend to show up somewhere; standing in line for something…you get the idea. Do you default to pulling out your phone and scrolling with no particular end in mind? Is this really how you want to spend your time? Mindlessly staring at a screen might make you feel less bored in the moment, but you’ll end up with nothing to show for those minutes. Imagine how much better you’d feel at the end of the day if you could accomplish something small but meaningful in that time.
Take a few minutes to come up with a list of little things you can do when you’re in certain kinds of settings with only a short amount of time that might not otherwise be very productive. Are there things you can do that might shorten your to-do list or ease your stress a bit? Keep a list in your wallet or on your phone, and consult it the next time you find yourself captive and bored, or mindlessly playing games or looking at Facebook. And remember that it is totally okay to occasionally use those minutes to catch up on social media or do nothing — all of our brains need a break sometimes. The key is to do it intentionally and not simply out of habit.
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