One Minute Now Is Better Than Ten Minutes An Hour From Now

or, what toddlers and the Muse have in common

“Mommy, we play hide-and-seek?”

This question, squeaked out of the cutest little face you ever did see, comes at me many times throughout the day, usually when I’m elbows-deep in some other activity.

It’s oh-so-tempting to say, “In a minute,” “Not right now,” “Mommy’s busy,” and plenty of times, I do. Much as she might want to play with me, I don’t interrupt homeschooling or cooking dinner to indulge her.

But here’s the thing.

Putting off a toddler is like pushing back on the waves at the beach. She will just keep coming, and coming, and coming.

And she will get louder.

And possibly destructive.

My best parenting tip for toddlers is to spend ONE minute on their requested activity when they first ask. That one minute of hide-and-seek fills her tank for another half hour. She does not rationally understand “maybe later,” but after we’ve played three rounds of hide-and-seek in 60 seconds (I have a small house, and neither of us is particularly inventive in our hiding places), she will (usually) happily occupy herself long enough for me to finish what I wanted to finish.

My best creativity tip for busy individuals is the same.

One minute now is better than ten minutes an hour from now.

Unlike toddlers, the Muse will not nag and nag and nag. When you blow her off, she slinks away to visit someone else (probably that mythical writer who does all their writing in a cabin in the woods for four hours a day).

Taking a couple of minutes to jot down the ideas when they come will be much more productive than saying, “just a minute” to the Muse. If you put off writing or sketching until you have time, that time might not come.

Life won’t magically get less busy just because you feel inspired. In fact, the new difficulty will be in tearing yourself away from your project after just a minute or two. The kids will yank at your arm, or the coworker will email you, or something else will come up, and you’ll need to save the real work for a quieter, more focused time.

But that’s what makes it all a merry war, isn’t it?

an aspidistra…see George Orwell