Starting my 30-minute brain break

Me sitting in my favorite escaping corner/couch. Everyone should have one. 

Today (when I was writing this) was one of those rare days when I found myself with 30 minutes free from work. It probably happens to you as well. You’ve been doing things non-stop, either at work or at home. Your to-do list is never ending. Then suddenly… you have 30 minutes. 

They were not planned. They just happened because a task you deemed complex, turn out to be simpler than expected and therefore you completed it in good time, enough to have this unexpected free time that you don’t know what to do with. 

And it’s not like you don’t have other tasks you could do. In fact, you have so many that you don’t know which one is deserving the honor. 

But this time, instead of going on to cross-off something from my tomorrow’s to-do list, I decided to go sideways. I decided to write. 

The Challenge

My challenge was to write a simple blog post in 30 minutes. Using my version of the Pomodoro Technique. In case you are not familiar with it, it’s a technique that works well for those who get too used to working under pressure. Those who hate “productivity hacks”. Or those who procrastinate when we don’t have much to do, but do it all with high stress levels when we have too much. 

All you need to do is set a timer and focus on completing the task within that time frame. With no distractions of any kind. With no excuses. 

The Outcome

I managed and this is the first post that resulted from it. My new goal is to find this time every week or every other week. Either at home or at work. To take back this therapy of writing which is one of my favorite pastimes, and one of my favorite brain-stress-relieving activities (as ironic as it sounds). 

I closed it, then the next morning -while taking a shower- new blog ideas where showering my mind (see the pun there?). I wrote them down in my phone’s notepad and now I’m ready to keep the creative juices flowing. 

It’s amazing how a little action, a little step back can have such a productive result.  

My hope is that next week I will have something new to share with you. Either in this blog, or in Fina en la Oficina, or in my Linkedin, depending on what fits my inspiration. 

The last challenge was to find the time to actually post this. If you are reading this... I conquered!