How to Actually Make the Time for Your Passion
We hear it all the time.
If you love it, you’ll make the time. It will be a priority in your life. You won’t worry about how to do it, you just will.
It sounds so easy.
Spoiler alert: It’s not.
For those of us who have work and home lives…how are you supposed to even try to make the time?
You’re trying to stay hydrated, exercise, eat right, get enough sleep, make the money it takes to survive, and spend time with your loved ones.
Where are your passions supposed to fit into that schedule?
It’s frustrating advice that I think could leave us more discouraged than pumped up.
**leans in close but not in a creepy way**
I think I’ve found the magical time in your schedule to fit in your book baby—or whatever else your passion might be. Are you ready for this?
LOOK AT YOUR ROUTINES
This is what my schedule used to look like:
Wake up at 6:00.
Have some quiet time and write as long as I can.
Watch kids from 7:30-5:30—and sneak in a bit of editing work during naptime.
Eat dinner.
Do nothing until a fantastically early bedtime at 9:30.
Five days a week, this was the routine I had somehow made for myself. It wasn’t perfect, but I felt like I was doing the best I could.
I think I probably was, at least for a while. Between my work schedule and the funk I was in for a while, I really don’t think I had the energy for anything more in my day.
But then I was getting antsy and found myself wanting to do more of what made my soul happy, so I decided to reevaluate my schedule.
Do you see what I saw?
I had a three-hour window between dinner and bedtime that I was filling with…nothing.
Yes, downtime is important. But that was a lot of downtime. (I, uh, hope I wasn’t just watching TV that whole time.)
When time is such a limited resource, I don’t want to waste mine.
So…then what?
I won’t lie; that introspection up there was the easy part. The next step was the difficult one.
I didn’t want to do it.
But it legit changed my life.
CHANGE
It’s as easy and as difficult as that.
Anyone who has tried to get into exercising or change their eating habits will know that beneficial change is always so much more difficult than unhealthy change.
Because the good change requires some sort of energy to accomplish, when all the other one requires is that nothingness.
We stay still until we’re pushed (or pulled) into motion.
I decided to take the time I was using to watch TV and use it for something worthwhile.
One episode, I told myself.
Depending on what I was watching, that could be as little as 20 minutes.
For those 20 minutes, I was going to do something that meant something. Play an instrument, blog, connect with followers on social media; maybe do some yoga, or read…maybe even write.
How did I expect myself to get my brain to function past four in the evening?
I didn’t, really.
I fully expected myself to be sitting there staring at my computer screen and checking Twitter and Pinterest in a vicious cycle of internet tabs.
But trying was better than not trying.
Just pacing the room is healthier than sitting down.
This idea was exciting. It opened my eyes to the other things I could still be accomplishing in my day.
It could change how I felt about my day when I went to sleep that night.
That excitement was the push I needed to…
BRING ALONG A FRIEND
This wouldn’t have been possible without my friend (and wonderful author of the Supremacy Witch series!) Marion.
I told her I was thinking about doing this and asked her if she wanted to join me.
We live in the same timezone, despite living in different countries, so we decided that at 7:30 in the evenings, we were going to sit down for 20 minutes to work on something.
It could be blogging.
It could be folding the laundry.
It could be writing social media posts.
It could be writing.
As long as it was something.
I say it wouldn’t have been possible without Marion because it’s true.
Her accountability and encouragement (it’s the best part!!) has often been the one thing that keeps me productive.
I’m stubborn, people, but I’m often exhausted.
We’ve been experimenting with this for a while, and life has been crazy for both of us in this time. Sometimes we take breaks. Sometimes we take a step back and have some me time. Sometimes our schedules are just too full.
But that’s okay. We’re there for each other, and we’ll get back into the swing of things eventually.
DOES IT WORK?
Three months later and I’m active on Instagram again! (And slowly but surely getting there on Twitter!)
I’m posting on my blog again!
I’ve finished three big editing jobs and as I polish up this post, this is the first time all year I’ve been without an editing job. (At the end of August!)
And the best part? I’ve written 60,000 words.
My daily word count goal used to be 300 words.
Now it’s 500, and I often write more than twice that!
Our 20 minutes of productivity time turned itself into an hour—and sometimes even more!
This accomplishment thing is addictive.
I’m not a productivity expert, but I’m really pleased with the results this commitment has given me.
If you give it a try, tell me how it works for ya!
And if you need someone to join you in your productivity time, DM me over on Instagram and I’ll be there to cheer you on!
P.S. Go follow my friend Marion on Instagram and totally go get her book! ❤
Being exiled from her coven is the least of Evelyn's problems.Although only passed her sixteenth summer, Evelyn is considered to be one of the most powerful witches in the entire realm. With her magic comes the honour of being chosen as the next coven leader. Unfortunately one unlawful use of magic costs her the life she always dreamed of.But perhaps leaving her sheltered life behind was the best thing for her. As she sees the world of witches in a new light, she learns more about her own magic. Powers that go beyond those of even a Supremacy witch. Evelyn is a clairvoyant, a gift not many have come to possess.And thanks to the soul-selling shadow dealer known as The Eckle, Evelyn learns that witches from both sides are after her because of it. Now she is forced to make uncertain alliances with those wielding corrupt magic -- some of it being her own.
