Sometimes the hardest part of getting something done isn't finding the time, it's finding somewhere you won't be distracted. There always seems to be something else that needs doing, an email to answer, a cupboard to tidy, laundry to put away, a message that needs replying to or simply the temptation to check your phone for five minutes. Before you know it, the time you had set aside for yourself has disappeared.
So this week, I decided to remove the distractions altogether, I took myself to my local library, and in my case, my local library happens to be in Palma, Mallorca.
Sometimes you need to leave home to get things done
I love working from home, but there is something about being surrounded by everything that needs doing that can make it surprisingly difficult to concentrate. The library is different, there are no household jobs staring at me, no washing machine to empty, or garden jobs waiting outside and no little things that suddenly seem more important than the project I actually sat down to work on. There is simply a desk, my laptop, my notebook and a few hours ahead of me.
So that's what I did, I found a quiet table, put my headphones on and settled in for a proper block of focused work.
Give yourself three or four hours
We often try to squeeze creative projects into the gaps in our day, ten minutes here twenty minutes there and a little bit while the coffee is brewing. Sometimes that's all we have, and those small moments are valuable, but some projects need something different, they need time to get into the flow. That's what I wanted this week. I gave myself three or four uninterrupted hours and set myself one clear goal. Rather than thinking about everything I needed to do, I could concentrate on one project and keep going and there is something very satisfying about looking at the clock and realising you've spent several hours working on something that matters to you.
My goal for this week
I've set myself a fairly ambitious goal for my Little Big Journal Company business, I wanted to create six new organisation inserts from September to the October half-term. That means coming up with the ideas, working out the content, designing the pages, checking the layouts, creating them in In-design and eventually getting everything ready to become part of the Little Big Organisers collection. It is the kind of project that could easily feel overwhelming if I looked at the whole thing at once. Instead, I'm breaking it down and working on one insert at a time. And after this week's library session, I'm well on the way to achieving it.
Create your own quiet space
You don't need to go to a library to do this, your quiet space might be a corner of your home, a café, a garden bench or somewhere else where you can sit without being interrupted. The important thing is to make the decision that this time is for you and the thing you want to achieve. Put your phone away, close the unnecessary tabs, make a coffee. Get your journal and your notebook, decide what you want to accomplish before you begin. Then give yourself permission to concentrate. It could be writing, planning, studying, drawing, starting a small business project, organising your life or simply working through an idea you've had for a while.
You don't need to wait until you have more time
I think we often imagine that we'll find time for the things we really want to do when life becomes less busy but perhaps life doesn't become less busy. Perhaps we just need to protect the time we do have. Even three hours once a week can make a surprising difference when you use them intentionally. This week, my quiet space happened to be a beautiful library in Palma. Next week it might be somewhere completely different. The location isn't really the point, the point is deciding that something matters enough to give it your full attention and sometimes, the easiest way to do that is to simply go somewhere else, close the door on the distractions and give yourself a few uninterrupted hours to get on with it.