Bouncing off of my unplanned Thursday, I tried to figure out how best to act during unscheduled time. What do I do with this 2-hour free time block?
That question is too overwhelming, so I tried breaking it down. What do I do with the first 30-minute free time block?
That was still overwhelming, because it comes with the expectation that something big gets done within 2 hours. Instead, I found a more effective question to ask myself: What’s something small that I can start right now, even if I don’t finish?
No more context of having 2 full hours. No more context of a 30-minute interval. Just anything small that I can do.
When I first thought this question, it drove the project-management side of me crazy. I could not bear to not know what to expect.
On the flip side, it was also incredibly liberating not to be held to a certain expectation so that I don’t need to fear failure.