How to Get Anything Done, or the Tale of Undiscovered Time

The other day I was talking to an old friend of mine, we hadn’t seen each other in many years. After a ritual exchange of information about families and mutual acquaintances (that guy just passed, have you heard? And remember that strange couple? They divorced and now live in different countries), we moved on to an obligatory exchange of bragging (or whining) about our own lives.

I honestly shared that I’m still working in the rope access industry, writing articles and short stories, trying to finish a novel. My knee is recovering from an injury — I’m back on the basketball court, having casual fun with friends. I still read a lot. And spending time with my family, of course.

A friend took a thoughtful moment and said: “I would also like to try to write something. A story or a post about something. But I have no time for that.” And he went on to his own biography.

I did not argue with him, although I have long understood the simple truth: there is always time. The only question is how we distribute it. The answer to the problem of “not enough time” sounds surprisingly straightforward — not that we are constantly short of time, but the ability or desire to control what we spend it on. Plus, of course, the motivation for what we “don’t have enough time for.”

It is a fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year, and no one can change those numbers. I don’t know, maybe some people have all their desires limited to physiological needs plus television, but I haven’t met anyone like that. Even the most seemingly shallow individuals still have some hobbies or at least dream about having one. As a result, almost everyone has to decide what to spend that very 24/365 on. And when somebody says that he (or she) doesn’t have enough time for something, he actually tells us that he lacks the desire to do this “something.”

I am no exception. I’ve been into several sports, but I quickly realized that I couldn’t even fit two into my life at once. You always have to sacrifice something if you want to change something and see what’s around the next corner. I’ve always loved to paint, but I’ve always realized that to do it at a decent level requires a lot of practice — and I wasn’t willing to give that time at the expense of my other hobbies.

Simply put, I just didn’t want to learn how to draw. Time has nothing to do with it. If you want something badly enough, you can always find a time for it. Stephen King used to write at night instead of sleeping before a twelve-hour shift in the laundry. Jaroslav Hasek finished The ‘The Good Soldier Švejk’ while he was already terminally ill. Not even the ominous presence of a gaunt figure with a scythe at his bedside distracted him. So the main question is always — how much do you wish it?

So the answer to my friend (if I were to answer him) would be simple: if you want to write, write. It’s as simple as that. So sit down at the keyboard and start typing. Get a typewriter or a pencil if you don’t like the computer. About what? Well, that’s up to you. After all, it’s your story, article, or novel, right? You can only want to write about something, not just type nonsense on the keyboard.

Each of us has our own terminal deadline, undefined but inevitable. So if you decide you want to do something — don’t wait until you have time to do it. Use that time, or you might never make it.