by Elton Gahr

Created on: April 15, 2009

There is an old programmers adage that says "Any project will expand to take the amount of time alloted to it.". This is true in the world of programming computers and it is true many other parts of life. What this means in practicality is that just as we must learn to budget our money or find ourselves spending every cent we make with very little gain we must also learn to budget our time or we will find ourselves run ragged.

As with our financial budget the first thing we must do is take an inventory of how it is that we are spending our time. A good way to do this is to spend ten minutes and write down how much time you spend doing things in a given week, then have your husband or wife write down how much time you spend on those same activities. Finally you should take a few days or a week and actually keep track of actual time. This will most likely tell you two things. That you are spending much more time on unimportant things than you thought and that your spouse has a better idea of how you spend your time than you do.

Once you know this it is time to begin to consider priorities. Do you really want to spend your time writing or do you just like to imagine that you want to spend time writing. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you'd really rather be watching TV, playing video games or surfing the Internet. If you can do these instead there is a good argument to be made for them being just as much a practical use of your time as writing. If you really do want to have more time to write though you must find a way to cut back on these and other non-necessities. Giving your TV to the neighbor will almost certainly free up some time, but for a less drastic measure consider a timer. Give yourself a set amount of time to do these things and then stop. Also important is to remove them from your writers office.

All of this won't do you much good though when the kids knock, the phone rings, the neighbor comes to ask for sugar, your wife wants to "talk" and a meteorite hits your car. Every one of these things will happen when you are trying to write with the possible exception of the meteorite(they can even happen if you don't have a neighbor, wife, kids or a dog). One answer to this is putting a lock on the door of your office but assuming that is impractical the next solution is the attempt at making people understand you are working. This will be ineffective. You're sitting at home in your robe, you must have time to talk.

It is at this point that you should consider how best to afford that cabin out in the woods. Once you decide that it is too expensive you can consider other possibilities. Getting up early to write is one. Five o'clock in the morning may seem like an insane time to start writing but it will give you a while before anyone else is up. Late can also work. The important thing is to discover when works best for you.

None of these things will make time magically appear for you but if writing is truly a priority for you then the time almost certainly exists you just have to stop allotting so much time to your other actives. Five minutes less on twenty different activates will give you an hour a day to write.

Learn more about this author, Elton Gahr.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.