All dreams start with an idea, big or small. Dreams come true when we commit to it, when we make it as realistic as possible and create a space for it every single day of our lives.
1. What if you get an extra 10 mins every day for the year….
Yes, if you get 24 hours and 10 minutes a day, what would you do for yourself? Sleep, exercise, work, meditate, chat with a friend or family, learn new things, walk your dog, do some drawing, take a few pictures, do blessing self-talk, plan your day, enjoy your meal, do nothing, or others?
Yes, do nothing is definitely an option. It is like spending time with ourselves not having a phone/device, not working, not spinning our head thinking about the to-do list. It is just being with our body and our mind. It can be just breathing time too – a time when you have no agenda whatsoever.
Spend the next 10 minutes to write down your answer and be as specific as possible before you read further.
2. How are that extra 10 mins important to you?
Now that you have written down what you would do in the extra 10 minutes, how important is it to you. If you do that for 10 minutes every day for a year, what would that look like? Think about it for a moment – 10 mins a day means a total of 3,650 mins (or over 60 hours). What would 60 additional hours mean to you?
When you understand the importance of what you choose to spend the extra 10 mins, you know better about yourself, about your values! A person who values learning probably prefers to spend the extra 10 mins reading 5 pages of books every day. A person who values family probably likes to spend the extra 10 mins in being with their family, and so on.
3. How can you make it work for you?
Ten minutes doesn’t sound a lot. How can you make an activity into a 10-minute chunk size that you can do it daily? According to a study, the average for a habit to develop is 66 days (individual variation goes from 18 to 254 days. If you can make it into 10-minutes chunks, it makes it much more sustainable when it develops into a habit. For example, if it is exercise, what type of activity can take roughly 10 mins of your day – is it walking one station? Or a 10-minute routine? If it is drawing, what would take 10 minutes to draw? And so on.
4. How would you hold yourself accountable?
How do you know you have achieved or completed your 10 minutes every day? Is that trackable or journalable? Is there an app that can help? Is there a routine that you can do at a specific time to schedule on your calendar? Is there someone that you can share your target with so they can be your cheerleader? What else?
Holding yourself accountable makes you in control. It doesn’t mean that you are on your own. Quite the contrary, it means that you can reach out for resources to support you, you can remove obstacles on the way and own your destiny. How powerful is that!
5. How would you celebrate your progress?
Reading 5 pages every day means that you will finish over 1,800 pages in a year and that’s easily 6-10 books a year. What would you do when you finish reading one book? Taking 5 pictures in 10 minutes means your collection will reach 100 in 20 days. Will that become a theme that you can proudly share? Any achievement gift that you want to prepare for yourself?
Remember that action takes an average of 66 days to become a habit and celebrating your progress will keep your momentum. This is especially important in the beginning. Celebrating progress daily vs. celebrating milestones is equally important to keep you motivated and energized!
6. Finding the 10 minutes …
By now, you would have already determined what you would do in the 10 minutes and where it would take you in a year. You have crafted plans on making it measurable, achievable and sustainable. I am sure that process alone makes you feel hopeful for the year to come.
Now is the time to find that extra 10 minutes every day. If you were to give up 10 minutes of today, which part of it would you be willing to let go? Is that your sleep time, social media time, work time, exercise time, study time, TV time or others? And when you let go of that 10 minutes, what changes will that bring to your life? You have to understand your “sacrifices” and the impact of such “sacrifices” before you are going to give the time up, right?! For example, don’t give up another 10 minutes of your sleep if you are frequently sleep-deprived; it won’t be sustainable.
7. Get Ready, Let’s Begin!
You found your extra 10 minutes. You have a new meaningful 10 minutes regime that you want to pursue. Weighing the benefits (what will you get with the additional 10 mins every day for a year) and the costs (what will you lose with the 10 mins from the carved out activity every day for a year). Are you willing to commit to the change? What will this shift mean? For any change to happen, you need to be aware of the need first, then willing to make the change, followed by the capability to change and then actions.
Revisit the entire process to be absolutely clear!
- Imagine you have 10 extra minutes every day, what would you like to achieve with this 10 minutes?
- How is doing this activity important to you?
- How can you make this 10-minute activity work for you on a daily basis? Remember it takes on average 66 days to turn an activity into a habit.
- How would you hold yourself accountable to get to what you want?
- How would you celebrate your progress?
- What are you willing to let go to create this 10-minutes every day? What would it mean to your life by letting something go?
- Assess what you create for your life with the new activity and determine if it is still worth your effort to commit and start getting back your life. Go to the start line now!
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