Drop by Drop

This post was posted on the Big Picture Classes blog a few weeks ago but I thought it would be good to post it here, too. I hope you like it.

In Turkish, we have a saying. It loosely translates to:

“Drop by drop, it becomes a lake.”

This is how time works. Negligible amounts of time dedicated to the small task can end up amounting to tangibile, visible changes in your life.

I wanted to share some examples of my personal projects with you today. I will share three different examples with you. Just to show you that the idea applies across the board.

One of my goals this year was to learn how to sketch. I can’t draw at all but I’ve always wanted to. I loved watching people sit with a piece of paper and pencil and create works of art within moments. I saw other people’s sketchbooks and felt a strong desire to have my own. I was quite scared of this goal and postponed it for a while. Finally, on April 10, I decided enough was enough and I would start sketching every single day. Here are the two sketches I made on that day:

Yes, I told you. I can’t draw.

Alas, I kept trying. I dedicated 15-30 minutes a day to it. Every single day since April 10. I took other people’s sketches and tried to create my own versions. I used charcoal, colored pencils, pastel pencils, and eventually watercolors. I used photos as inspirations, too.

In the process I found artists that inspired me and I copied their work. Since I wasn’t selling anything and made sure to give credit, I didn’t worry about copying.

my version of the amazing sketch by Andrea Joseph:

Then I started to draw off of photos:

and finally moved to watercolors:

With just 15 minutes or so every day, I was able to improve my sketching significantly. To the point that I am no longer scared to sit and draw. Yes, I still have days where I hate my creations and I have a long way to go before I can use my own imagination, but I am no longer scared when I see something. I no longer think “I could never do that.” I know it’s just a matter of time, patience, and dedication.

All it took to have faith in myself (and to draw better) was 15 minutes a day.

Here are two more examples of how regular dedication of time can make a tangible difference in your life:

Another project I worked on this year was starting to exercise. I have never, ever exercised in my life. I don’t do any sports, and I don’t even know how to ride a bike. On October 2, 2010, I decided enough was enough and I would start exercising every day. I started with a one mile walk around the neighborhood and slowly increased to a 45-minute exercise of 2 miles of walking and 1 mile of running. As of July 2011, I had lost 32 lbs. I now weigh less than I did when I was 19 years old. Yes, I did watch what I was eating but I’d been doing that for years. What made this work was the 45 minutes a day I dedicated to working out. And now that my stamina is higher, I was able to change things up so I run 2 miles instead of walking so my 45 minute exercise is down to 21 minutes. I can use the extra time to be with my family.

And, finally for something different, my oldest son just learned how to read a year ago and he’s becoming more and more interested in books. I wanted to spend 2010 reading books to him to encourage his love for reading. Since I didn’t grow up here, I asked around a lot and made a list. It had most of the classics from Charlotte’s Web to The Wizard of Oz. I dedicated 20 minutes a day to read to him. Sometimes it would be during breakfast and other times, near bedtime. Just 20 minutes a day. I’d read to him and when we finished a book, he’d tell me what he thought of the book. (you can read more about the project here🙂 As of November 12, we’ve read 48 books together. Just 20 minutes a day.

So let’s summarize. With 15-45 minutes a day of dedication a day on each task, in less than one year, I was able to improve my drawing, lose 32 lbs., and read 48 books. If those are not excellent results, I don’t know what is. So next time you’re complaining about how you don’t have time to start something, remember that it takes a lot less time to accomplish a goal than you might think.

More importantly, what I learned when I was writing the Reclaiming My Time workshop is that you have a lot more free time each day than you think. All it takes is a good, hard look at where your time goes. I promise you, you will be surprised. As you can see from my examples above, taking just a few minutes each day to do things I value has changed my life. It made me more productive, happier, and more fulfilled.

Remember that how you spend your time is how you spend your life.