Things to Do in 20 Minutes (Besides Nap)

20 things you can do in 20 minutes (and create a sense of momentum) has artist Michael Nobbs' list of things he can do in 20 minutes or less … I guess great (or at least kooky) minds think alike!  I call mine the "Got a Minute List".  They are, I think, especially (but not exclusively!) handy for polyphasic folks, whose time gets cut up into smaller chunks more frequently, and who often have really full schedules.

What's the value of a 20-minutes-or-less list?  Well, if you're like me, there are a thousand things you wish you "did more often", like read poetry, exercise your triceps, practice some visualizations or memory-hacks you know about, etc.  These are things it's almost impossible to fit into your usual daily lists, which are already full of much more important things; and anyway, practicing those memory-hacks takes thirty seconds; you're going to schedule that?  (Not that you shouldn't schedule important small tasks, but for many people there are a lot of nifty small things that would just clutter up a daily schedule, and which don't need to get done consistently, but are nice to do when possible — that's what this list is for.)

Things on this list should be:  1) doable in 20 minutes or less, and 2) things that you'll be happy you did.  The goal here is to turn what would otherwise be a few minutes of staring at a wall or surfing FaceBook into an anchor that will let you think of today as a Good Day, as something more than another 24-hour box you put all the usual stuff in and mailed away to nothingness.  Those little things can make the difference between a good day and a super-productive-feeling day; or between a totally crap day and a day that had at least one good, worthwhile thing in it. 

Here's my list.  I order it, roughly, with the really-fast things on top and the ten-minutes-or-more things on the bottom, so I can quickly pick a task appropriate to the chunk of time I've got.  And of course, I'd love to see your list too! 

• File a fistful of paperwork from any handy pile
• Work on breathing-exercises (can be done to some degree in seconds, but ideally need 5 minutes)
• Repeat a memorized poem/passage or, if alone, a song
• Do stretches and/or the knee exercises I need
• Prepare a healthy snack for later (I used to try and eat something healthy if I had a minute, but eating in the cracks of living isn't very healthy itself…if I prepare something healthy and stick it in the fridge, though, I know I'll eat it later.)
• Do pushups or situps
• Do any shorinryu or kungfu form (avg. 60 seconds to complete, but I can stretch it out by working on specific moves after)
• Tidy up the laundry area
• Tidy up the art-supplies
• Write a few well-chosen words or a short poem (in one of the zillion notebooks available in my house for such things)
• Look over and/or update the to-do lists (incl. gift lists, grocery lists, and lists like this)
• Read a new poem
• Re-read or work on memorizing a not-new poem
• Grab an entire pile of paperwork / laundry / clutter / etc. and put it all away
• Tend houseplants or garden areas
• Do weapons-forms or longer taiji forms
• Empty and organize one shelf or drawer (I set a timer for 15 minutes and work on this really fast, and I almost always finish before it goes off!)
• Meditate (note: requires a timer if nothing else will notify me it's time to stop!)
• Read from a difficult book (difficult books are best done in short chunks, for me; but I usually get sucked in, so this takes 15 minutes on average)

Creative Commons-licensed image from plindberg; thank you!