What I Do When I Have Two Hours to Work

I’ve been getting the questions “How do you work so quickly?” and “How do you get so much done?” pretty much my whole adult life, maybe even since middle school, which has to say as much about our productivity-obsessed culture as it does me. My dad was a doctor, and he used to get this question all the time too. We both got the sense that people were asking us, not just because we got a lot done, but because we got a lot done and we didn’t seem to be stressed all the time. We both struggled to answer these questions, because we were just moving at the pace that felt right to us. Getting a lot done comes naturally to me, and just because it doesn’t come naturally to you, doesn’t mean you should try to be more like me. But I’ve been asked this question so many times, that I’m going to try to articulate what I might be doing differently.

For several years, I’ve been in what I call The Two Hour Club, meaning by the time I do the dishes, take a walk, and do all the life stuff that needs doing in our family, I have about two hours a day to do client work or work on my own personal writing projects. My work includes teaching classes, coaching writers, and working with publishers on new manuscripts. There are deadlines, but there’s also a lot of flexibility in how and when I do my work, and my family really needs that flexibility right now. I know many of you are in the same season of life, and you’re trying to make the most of the limited time you have, whether that means working on a personal project or doing some client work. So how do I get a lot done during this time? This is the best I can explain it. If you know me in real life and you can explain it better than I can, please let me know! I really would like to have a more sensible, helpful answer to these questions.

Make decisions quickly. Trust there’s more than one right way to move forward.

In corporate life, there’s a lot of emphasis on strategizing, anticipating problems, and avoiding them before they happen, but I don’t think that’s a realistic way to approach our daily lives. (It’s probably not realistic in business always either, but that is not what you’re here for!) Most of the time, there’s more than one right answer, or we don’t have enough information to make a decision. We need to take some small action, see what happens (including noticing how we feel about it), and then adjust. Knowing that’s part of the process, frees me up to move quickly.

Take notes on several different projects, AND focus on one at a time.

This is contradictory advice, but I’m just trying to report what I actually do. Focusing on one project at a time, means I am more likely to make progress, build momentum, and finish something. But I have lots of ideas, and I never know which one is going to be the one I focus on next. I like to take notes whenever something occurs to me, so I don’t lose the insight or feel like I have to rush to finish something so I can move on to the next project. But I don’t know if this approach works for everyone.

Know what you’re going to work on next.

It’s helpful to have a list of small tasks you can do mindlessly when you have ten minutes. And if I’m working on something more substantial that will be harder to get back into when I sit back down at my desk, I like to know where I’ll pick up again. I might assign myself the next chapter, a paragraph to revise, or some small issue that I want to brainstorm around. It’s a way in, a friendly face that says, “Good to see you, take a seat, let’s get started.”

Choose an expert.

This is similar to the advice to choose once or make a decision that has large ripple effects that we hear about in Lazy Genius and Essentialism, both books I admire but don’t always apply to my own life. Sometimes I need to be the expert on my own life, tune in, and make decisions that are perfectly suited to where I’m at and who I am. But other times, I can just choose one person or philosophy to follow and default to what everyone else is doing without thinking about it too much. Maybe this tip is more about not trying to maximize every decision. It’s ok to buy the first backpack that doesn’t cost $60 or watch a class from the marketing expert your friend recommends instead of doing your own research.

Release expectations and stay open to possibility.

When you feel like you’re not getting anything done, this can be the most annoying advice in the world. I’ve gone through months and years when it felt like I had left every possible goal go. I bent myself into knots trying to fit my own projects into a demanding family life. Forcing it never helped. It just made me cry, and I don’t want that for you. So if you can, let something go. Lower the bar. Release expectations. Be gentle with yourself. There are a million good reasons why you’re not getting anything done right now.

And yet…

If you can stay open to the possibility that you might still be a writer, you might still make some art, you might still discover beauty and meaning, and you might find a way to share it with the world…

Holding on to that side of yourself is worth it. And while you might need to release desire on spending a week painting in the woods or finishing your novel surrounded by white sheets and room service, you might still make something real and good in tiny moments, in between all the chaos and sickness. I do want that for you.

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Maybe these tips are all about not trying to “make the most of it,” whatever we think that means? Tell me how you spend your two hours when you get them.