Pockets of time
There aren’t enough hours in the day! Between full-time work, family responsibilities, and even some downtime, it’s hard to imagine where you can fit in anything extra.
But here’s a secret: You don’t need huge blocks of free time to make progress. Your biggest growth can happen in the smallest moments. Those little “pockets of time” throughout your day that are often wasted.
Pockets of time
I first learned the utility of these small moments from Matthew Dicks in his book, Someday is Today. The premise is simple: Those “dead spaces” in your day — the ones when you’re waiting for a meeting to start, commuting, or waiting for your daughters dancing lesson to be done — are golden opportunities for being productive.
I’m not talking about setting up a laptop to work in tese short moments. I’m talking about thinking and planning. To use these pockets to brainstorm ideas, organize your thoughts, sketch app ideas mentally, or logic out how to tackle a tricky problem later.
With AI tools like voice transcription and note-taking apps, you now can capture ideas on the go with almost zero friction. Voice-to-text has been my friend more than once when a great thought strikes. As an example this very blog post has been written while:
- …biking to work
- …waiting at an indoor play center as my kids run around
- …standing outside a store while my youngest naps in her stroller
In these little moments, I could be mindlessly scrolling through social media, but instead, I’m actively creating. (Don’t get me wrong — I do my fair share of accidental browsing, especially when putting the kids to bed) But when I’m intentional about these pockets of time, real progress happens.
Carving out structured time
While using these pockets of time are a great productivity hack, I also make a point to carve out larger blocks that work for me. Saturday and Sunday mornings, from around 6 to 9, are my golden hours for side projects. That’s when the kids are watching their favorite TV shows, and I can dive into my projects with little distraction. By sticking to this routine, I consistently get ~six focused hours each weekend. This is often just enough to push a side project forward without overload.
The key, however, is preparation. By using those pockets of time throughout the week to think and plan, I know exactly what I need to do when those early morning sessions arrive. There is no time wasted in those two/three-hour windows — it’s pure creative execution, powered by thoughtful preparation during the week’s scattered moments.
Progress, not perfection
Life will always be busy, and there will never be a perfect time to pursue your goals. But by leveraging these pockets of time you can make consistent progress without overwhelming your schedule. Let those small pockets of time work for you!
