You’ve been surprised with twenty free minutes. Do you have something you can do? Or do you need time to warm up and get into the “flow?” Does a single meeting ruin a whole day for you? (It does for Max, but that could just be his pathological introversion.)
Inspired by Paul Graham’s essay “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule” and Joan Bolker’s Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day, Caitie and Max consider how long it takes to get real work done. Even if you’re an engineer or a creative professional, and even if you’re sure you do your best work in giant blocks, it’s worth exploring the possibilities of a small unit of time—because that’s often all you have.
