The weighty value of the 15-minute increment

From writing to exercise to cooking, these 15-minute time increments have preoccupied people across the ages.

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Welcome to my substack where I agonize over details and minutiae. Today, I’m preoccupied by the 15-minute increments of time.

Image created by © Claudette Labriola

Image you were gifted an additional 15 minutes in your day. What would you do with that quarter of an hour?

The idea itself - to gain 15 minutes - is rather absurd. People don’t attribute a lot of weighty value to this time increment.

Until you begin to analyze the value of this 15-minute increment.

Consider the mathematical perspective:

15 minutes is a quarter of an hour. Does that feel like a long or a short time?

15 minutes consists of 900 seconds. Does the change in measurement (to seconds) change the implied duration of the increment?

Scenarios:

How long does 15 minutes feel when you wake up late and have to catch a bus to make it to work or school on time?

How long does 15 minutes feel in the last period of class on a Friday afternoon, weekend plans beckoning?

I think it’s clear not all 15-minute increments are created equal.

Coffee breaks

When I was a teenager, I worked part-time at Simpson’s, one of Canada’s iconic department stores which went out of business in the early 90s.

My coffee break was slated for 15 minutes, which felt like an inadequate amount of time. First, I had to walk to the staff room to retrieve my wallet, then exit the store and head toward the food court. By the time I got to the coffee shop I typically faced a lineup. By the time my coffee was finally dispensed, my break was more than half over, leaving me frazzled to sip my beverage and make it back to my post on time.

Exercise

When it comes to exercise, I consider the 15-minute time frame to be manageable. I can fit in a few yoga poses, my 40 crunches, some weights and some planks and feel great when the quarter of an hour has passed.

Meanwhile, when I think of 900 seconds, my perspective changes. The number 900 seems like an excessive amount to count. Who counts to 900? I barely make it through my 40 crunches…

Another shift in perspective

My exercise routine includes 40 crunches inside a 15-minute time frame. It takes me 12 seconds to complete ten crunches, so 40 crunches can be accomplished under a minute. I do them in increments of 10 crunches, with or without elbow movement and with an interruption of a leg-scissoring session. 20 crunches, 10 leg scissors, 20 crunches, done. It’s my least favorite part of my routine but I like cheese and chocolate so… enough said.

What does this have to do with 15-minute increments?

Well, the minimum amount of time I manage to at least partially enjoy exercise is 15 minutes. If I look at the clock from a minutes perspective, I can tolerate that time, whereas if I were to count the seconds, I would probably give up.

It’s a matter of perspective.

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The inspiration to write about this 15-minute increment thing came from a fantastic newsletter I recently subscribed to called Small Potatoes, a substack by Paul Bloom. In his rather lengthy essay titled Three productivity tips for the restless (like me), he quoted several famous authors (Kafka, Trollope, Freud, Valian among more contemporary ones) who wrote about their struggles to accomplish their writing goals.

One person who talked about the 15-minute increments is Virginia Valian, distinguished Professor of Psychology at Hunter College in New York.

In her essay Learning to work (1977), she described how she set up a plan to write her dissertation by setting up a specific amount of time each day.

After opting for quantity of time rather than quantity of work, I needed a figure. I talked about it with J, the man I live with, and he suggested three hours. Three hours! That very thought gave me an anxiety attack. How about two hours? Two hours! The very thought … One hour? More reasonable, but still not possible. Half an hour? Getting closer, but still too much. Fifteen minutes? Fifteen minutes. Now there was a figure I could imagine. A nice solid amount of time, an amount of time I knew I could live through every day. (Virginia Valian, Learning to Work)

The way she worded her outrage at writing for three hours a day resonated deeply. Of course, writing for three hours a day without interruption, focusing on content you want to write, not have to write, is a pleasure and luxury most can’t afford. Even I, currently between professional projects, find myself attracted to an uninterrupted three hours, even though the mere idea of writing for three hours appears a bit overwhelming.

Arriving at the idea of working or writing for 15 minutes each day, she reached a point of no return.

Of course, people laugh when I say fifteen minutes. What can you accomplish in 15 minutes? Well, more than you would think. 15 minutes with no interruptions, no pencil sharpening, no trips to the bathroom, no trips to the kitchen, no telephone calls: 15 minutes of solid work can be very profitable. I didn’t plan to stay at 15 minutes for the rest of my life, but it seemed like a good place to start. (Virginia Valian, Learning to Work)

A good place to start, indeed.

Beginning with 15 minutes of work or 15 minutes of daily exercise is a very good place to start. Everybody can craft some prose, edit some copy, respond to an inquiry or accomplish some other, similar task in 15 minutes. Everybody can spare 15 minutes to do some stretching, to walk around the block, to sit on a Peloton and spin, to work the abs with some crunches.

Years ago, I read a book whose author and title now eludes me. I do remember he was male, and he painted a vivid picture about how to cultivate a habit. There was one habit which impressed me more than any other: every time he went to the bathroom, he threw himself on the floor and did ten push-ups.

Can you imagine the type of shape you might be in if you did ten push-ups every time you had to pee?

How often do you visit the loo in a day? What if you did ten sit-ups every time you exited the bathroom? (Because, theoretically, doing ten sit-ups with a full bladder might not be the most enjoyable activity and might lead to quitting before any measurable results were noticable.)

The point about the 15-minute increments isn’t really about the 900 seconds it takes to come full circle, but to use that allocated time to accomplish a task with determination and focus to get it done, whatever it is. After all, if you accomplish a task in 15 minutes, you might inspire yourself to keep going and increase the time increment as you see fit.

Inspiration across the internet

Intrigued by the 15-minute increment, I wondered if other people were [over]thinking this time-increment. Typing into the search engine, I was treated to a host of results, some which stood out.

Boston University Dean of Students

Jason Campbell-Foster, EdD was the Interim Associate Provost & Dean of Students at Boston University when he wrote this letter to the students:

read in browser

Anthony Trollope

English novelist and civil servant Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) also spent time analyzing the 15-minute increments. Trollope broke down a large task into 15-minute writing blocks, which he called a well-designed progress meter. This method allowed him to get finished faster while still working on a seemingly much larger task. Every 15 minutes, he would check his progress (but not during the 15 minutes of writing). If he wrote 250 words, for instance, he could mentally check that time block off his list, earning him a sense of instant gratification.

To read a fun list of quotes about writing and reading, check out the Trollope Society. He has a vast quote library with topics such as Human nature, Women, love and marriage as well as on Writing and Reading, among others.

Jamie Oliver

Everyone’s favorite British chef, Jamie Oliver, wrote an entire cookbook focusing on speedy yet healthy and nutritious dinners called Jamie’s 15 minute meals.

Side note: If you have all the ingredients in your pantry, even if you take some substitutions into consideration, it’s possible to make meals like this is 15 minutes. You might not have the tidiest kitchen when you’re done, but practice makes perfect and I do love Jamie’s passion to cooking and feeding his family and fans. Well worth checking him out if for no other reason than to steer yourself away from mediocre, processed junk and awaken your senses to food the way it was meant to be consumed.

Jacqueline Leo

American magazine editor and media producer Jacqueline Leo knows: typing away at your computer with various taps open, the phone nearby, your focus is less than optimal because you’re endlessly distracted to be all the things to all the people. There is this misconceived perception that we must be available to all people at all times. I’m not immune to it, either. Emails, social media or instant message notifications lure us into immediate reactions. Why? Have we all become addicted to our devices? (The answer is a resounding yes.)

One look at an email can rob you of 15 minutes of focus. One call on your cell phone, one tweet, one instant message can destroy your schedule, forcing you to move meetings, or blow off really important things, like love, and friendship. (Jacqueline Leo)

Me, in my room with a door

I already admitted I’m not immune to distractions. When the words flow, even the slightest distraction can interrupt my output. I struggle more at the dining table in the family house than in my room with a door at my mom’s house (where, incidentally, I’m typing these words at this very moment). There is something to be said about muted notifications, locked doors, and a bare room with nary a distraction to divert my attention.

As far as tackling projects in 15-minute increments is concerned? I like it. Not only do I get a much more eloquently written piece of prose accomplished in these short-yet-void-of-interruption periods of deep focus, I also manage to get my daily exercises in. Including those hated crunches. My saving grace there is that the 48 seconds it takes to get those crunches done in my 15-minute exercise routine is worth it when there is cheese and chocolate to celebrate with later.

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