Got 15min between tasks? Don’t waste it on social media

Max out your breaks, with a random choice generator!

Have you ever wondered where all your spare time goes?

Between tasks, before meetings, while waiting to go somewhere, there are these little bits of time. They seem pretty useless, 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there; not enough to really get anything done. 

So what do we do? We default to checking social media, or doomscrolling the latest covid news.  

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can do quite a lot with a spare 15 minutes. 

Task switching requires cognitive resources

The problem is, it takes brains to decide what to do next. 

And, if your previous task needed a lot of focus, you’re not likely to have much mental capacity left to think about what you can do within those few minutes. 

You can try, but you’ll likely waste time being indecisive. Or you’ll have to work up extra energy that you currently don’t have. 

Randomness takes away the pain of choice 

The easiest solution is to take away your choice, with a random task generator! 

Basically, this is any tool that can make random decisions for you, from a bunch of inputs you’ve pre-selected. 

I’ve been using apps that mimic a spinning wheel, like this and this. You can also do a physical version, where you write down your choices on pieces of paper, put them in a jar and randomly pick them. 

My 15 minute random choice list

The trick is to pre-select choices that you’d feel okay doing on the spot. 

So, exclude anything that’s too difficult (don’t get too ambitious, or you’ll give up), requires too much preparation (i.e. needs supporting tools that you can’t immediately access), or tasks that you actually dislike (because you won’t even start).  

Here’s some of my options: 

• clear emails that don’t need a reply
• sprint walk around the house 
• do 5 sun salutations
• do yoga poses for core, arms, etc (pick one, or make this multiple choices) 
• creative writing: come up with 10 ideas for…  
• declutter my closet 
• organise some files
• tidy up my room
• personal grooming, e.g. paint my nails 
• poke 5 people on whatsapp
• reach 1 person whom I’ve been avoiding
• practice singing technique (list various exercises in multiple choices)
• do breathing exercises or meditate, 
• etc. 

Of course, sometimes I spin the wheel, and get something I really don’t feel like doing. In which case, I spin again and give myself another chance. But only one more chance!

Try it! What would your 15 minute random choices look like?