Introduction

Like me, you probably have a list of background to-dos that you want to eventually get around to. They range in importance from big passion projects to small decoration ideas. However, it often seems you just don't have enough time for them. You have work or classes. This week you have an appointment for this or preparation for that, so next week probably works better. Or maybe you don't feel you can set aside a long enough chunk of time to really commit to this to-do.

Making time

I want you to imagine that right now, in your apartment or wherever you live, the power has gone out. All of your neighbors still have power, so you've established the problem comes specifically from the place you live.¹ In that case, you would make time to fix the power, wouldn't you? Whether you would take a look yourself or call an electrician over, you would make time. And suddenly, against the claim that you don't have enough time for anything else, circumstances have forced you to make time for something else.

Conclusion

For a lot of people, not doing their background to-dos doesn't come from a lack of time. Actually, perhaps accidentally, you have expressed a preference for other matters over your background to-dos. It gets real easy to populate your time with not-so-important tasks. Consider where you can say “no,” and where you can make time for things that matter most to you.