I thought setting a timer for 10 minutes was a dumb way to work on my novel

My friend told me to just write for 10 minutes a day, no matter what, and I laughed it off. After six months of zero progress, I tried it last Monday with a simple kitchen timer. I wrote 300 words that first day, and now I've done it every day this week. It turns out the tiny commitment was the only way to get past my own block. Has anyone else found a stupidly simple trick that actually got a project moving again?

3 comments

3 Comments

maryp182mo ago

Honestly, calling it a dumb way is the real mistake. That kind of thinking is what stops us from trying the simple stuff that works. The goal isn't to write a masterpiece in ten minutes, it's just to open the file and get some words down. The timer trick works because it makes the task feel small and doable, not scary. What other small step are you maybe writing off before you even try it?

adam_young312mo ago

My three-minute rule for cleaning the bathroom got me through college.

alice_wilson731mo ago

Respectfully I see this a little different. I mean, yeah a timer can help you start, but a bathroom needs more than three minutes if you want it actually clean. Maybe it's just me, but scrubbing a toilet or shower with a timer going feels like you're just rushing through it and missing the grime. Idk, I get the idea of making a task less scary, but calling it clean after three minutes is kind of fooling yourself. You're not really maintaining anything, you're just skimming the surface. Maybe it worked for a dorm bathroom but in a real house that rule would leave things looking pretty rough fast.