May 16th, 2025
The last time I wrote about this was March 24th, 2024 – almost 14 months ago. That’s 418 opportunities to meet this commitment. I’ve managed 100, not including today.
I know this because I track these things in a spreadsheet called Word Count and give myself points for doing it – but that’s another discussion for another day.
So, that’s less than 25% of the time. Why is it so hard to show up for the work we say matters most?
After yet another discussion with ChatGPT (Yes, I’m a fan of ChatGPT), I’ve got a new plan for the next 137 days, that’s 19.57 weeks. I usually measure everything in 12-week increments – but I don’t want to wait until June to begin.
So, here I am trying again. This time, I’ve named it. I’m calling it a Practice. Why does that work? I’m calling it 13-Minutes (I know, brilliant right?) —a daily commitment to do something, anything here on Vienna’s Views for 13 minutes every day.
The idea isn’t new. It echoes the Japanese concept of Kaizen—small, continuous improvement—and was reinforced for me by Brainstorm Road, a now-retired community built around making daily progress on side projects. The site’s no longer active, but the spirit of showing up in small ways stuck with me. I wish I had joined them when I had the chance!
This isn’t a challenge. It’s not a program. It’s a line in the sand. If you’re trying to make consistent progress on something that matters to you—writing, reading, thinking – You can follow along or, even better, come along, post a comment, and tell me about your project.
I’ll post weekly for the next 20 weeks about how it’s going. What are you working on? Can you find 13 minutes a day to spend on it?