This one is my favorite tool, and I saved it for last because it just might save the Scanner in you. Two minutes here or there for the projects you love may be all you ever find, but the trick is to be ready for them. And the Setup will make you as prepared as a fireman with clothes at the ready and a pole to slide down when the fire alarm rings. It’s simple, but it can change your life: Just get every single thing you need for any project set up in advance and ready to go. Put it all together in one place. Then forget it until you have a little time.

And I mean "little." Take short, frequent visits to whatever you love. You can make a sketch or write a line of poetry for even 2 minutes, and if you’re completely focused (no multitasking allowed), you’ll find it’s enormously satisfying. Slip in these brief visits as often as possible. The results will astound you!

One first-rate way to do this (but we rarely think of it) is right in the middle of your time with your family. I call this technique How to Paint a Masterpiece during Commercial Breaks. All you need is that same miraculous Setup and a small corner of time.

Jeff found a way to do painting with this Setup, but the technique can be used with any of your interests. In the corner of the family room, set up a ready-to-go painting corner with a canvas, brushes, and palette of colors and never put it away. Keep the brushes in water so they need only a wipe-off to be ready to use. Cover the palette with plastic wrap so it’s always ready. With your project completely set up and ready to go, you can actually stand up, walk over, and paint for a few minutes during every commercial. Sounds ridiculous? Try it. It’s fun!

Then sit down and watch TV with your kids until the next break. Of course, you might want to keep painting after that, but you won’t be sequestered away from your family, feeling guilty and lonely, either. (Jeff’s kids liked this process so much they started doing their household chores on commercial breaks!)

You can do the same thing with redecorating a room, writing a cookbook, scanning photos for a greeting card project, or creating a storyboard for your next home movie.

Start a new comment and tell us where your new Setup is and what’s in it. Maybe you have a spiral notebook with your book’s outline, one little section title per page, and a pen for writing whenever you’re stuck in line. Or maybe it’s a knitting basket next to the piano where your daughter must practice nightly. Or a ukelele and some sheet music in the back seat of your car, to play while you wait to pick up your passengers. Then read the rest of the comments and see if you would like to reply to any of them.

Please be sure to subscribe to future comments on this exercise or to check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to What I Learned from Chapter 5 after you are done adding your comments.

Book Club Help Page

Welcome / Agenda Page

It doesn’t matter how strong and competent you are, when you’re operating on automatic pilot and you’re fueled by stress, you’re going to hurt somebody or trip on something. If you want to think clearly, be calm and be smart; schedule a Micro Nervous Breakdown at least once a day. It’s easy and no one will ever know about it. Try it and you’ll see what I mean. Here’s what to do.

1. Find a restroom where you can shut the door and have some privacy.
2. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and silently say, "I hurt." And "Ouch."
3. If you feel the slightest sensation in your eyes or your chest, pretend to yourself that you’re crying and sigh a few times. If you can drop some tears, that’s even better but not necessary.
4. If you can’t feel anything, pretend you’re an 8-year-old kid with all the same responsibilities and silently say, "Somebody help me. I’m too little to carry all this. I’m going to screw up." That ought to do it.
5. Give yourself two or three moments to feel any sorrow that comes to the surface, silently release your feelings, and notice how your tension melts away.

You’ll know you’re finished when you sigh a different kind of sigh, the one that says, "Whew. Well, that’s over." Stand up, walk out, wash your face—and you will find something very surprising. Your stress is gone, and you’re not having any trouble slowing down and being relaxed.

Give it a try. In a new comment on this page, tell us about your experience with the Micro Nervous Breakdown. Did it take away your tension? Will you be trying it again in the future? (I will. If you’ve seen Barbara Sher walk on stage with confidence or heard her greet everyone on a teleclass with no hint of worry about the call or anything else in her busy life, there’s a chance she’s just used it.) After you share your experience, read the rest of the comments and reply to a few.

Please be sure to subscribe to future comments on this exercise or to check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 2: The Setup after you are done adding your comments.

Book Club Help Page

Welcome / Agenda Page

This is your chance to reflect on what you will take away from Chapter 4: Commitment Phobia and to learn from or contribute to other book club members’ take-aways. You can also pose questions here about the chapter or what you are discovering about yourself.

The exercises we completed in Chapter 4: Commitment Phobia included

1. Which Mistaken Assumptions Are Yours?
2. The Career Tryout
3. Try a LTTL

Please subscribe to future comments on this page or check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Okay. On to Chapter Five next. Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 1: The Micro Nervous Breakdown after you are done adding your comments.

Book Club Help Page

Welcome / Agenda Page