Holden - Make it Happen in Ten Minutes a Day: the Simple, Revolutionary Method for Getting Things Done

Copyright 2012 by Lorne Holden

Publish Green

212 3rd Ave North, Suite 290

Minneapolis, MN 55401

612.455.2293

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Cover Design by Danny & Ulana Chapman, Duc Studios

Artwork by Nicole Zaccaria

ISBN: 978-1-938296-92-5

Artwork by

Nicole Zaccaria

Design by

Danny & Ulana Chapman

You're busy, right?

If you picked up this book, then your answer is yes and we have something in common - not enough time. And perhaps the sense that large things can't be created or conquered because we don't have the big time they require.

I offer a simple solution: make intentional ten minute efforts every day.

This idea was borne out of necessity in my life. During a recent summer, I was still in the labor-intensive phase of raising my young son. I longed to put in a flower garden, but as a single parent with neither partner nor family nearby, time for such endeavors did not exist.

Still, I wanted that garden.

So one day, I bought a six-pack of impatiens and upon returning home, I got out of the car, dug one hole and planted a single flower. Then I went inside to attend to the many things that needed my attention. I left the other flowers in their container at the edge of the grass. And for the rest of the day, I could feel that one flower singing. All day long.

Something had happened: I was back in the flow of possibility. Step by step, flower by flower, and day by day, I created a garden that knocked me out with its beauty. I never spent more than ten minutes on it, because I never had more than ten minutes. Nonetheless, its magnificence was the single most sustaining element of my world that summer. Every day, its beauty soothed and inspired me. I would look down on it from the window above and feel proud, accomplished and ... sane.

Not only was the garden itself incredible, but every time I looked at it, I was reminded that I could make things happen, even with very small amounts of time. The flowers became my cheering squad, encouraging me to remember this new blueprint for action. I no longer felt at the mercy of my situation and the joy I experienced inspired me to apply the technique to other corners of my life.

It was a quiet, daily revolution.

I have deliberately kept this book short, to the point, and delivered in concise chapters that can easily be read in ten minutes or less, so the book will be a first taste of its own fundamental premise. The information begins with the Make it Happen concept and how to get going with it, and then continues with advice and specific suggestions.

The world is full of books and ideas about time management. However, as I have just learned, time cannot truly be managed. We can only ever manage ourselves.

MAKE IT HAPPEN is written to help you do just that: manage yourself - your energies, intentions, and activities. It is a recipe for endeavor, to help you create what you want in a way that is consistently possible and filled with joy.

And in case you are wondering, yes, I wrote this book in ten minutes a day.

Think back to the last time you were pulled over by a cop for speeding.

It took forever for the cop to get out of the cruiser and saunter over to you. Then it took you an embarrassing amount of time to find your license and registration, and try to talk your way out of it. Then it took an hour for the cop to go back to his car, look up your statistics and decide whether or not to give you a ticket. Tick. Tick. Tick. And when he eventually got out of his car to walk back over to you with the piece of paper in his hand? An eternity.

In fact, in most situations, that whole scenario wouldn't take much longer than ten minutes. So, if ten minutes can feel that long, it can actually be that long. Which means you can create ten minute blocks of time that offer up that same sense of expansiveness.

What it takes is clarity and intention. Figure out what you want to create or conquer, put your mind to it and work in incremental amounts of time every day. Your actions will quickly bear fruit and amaze you. Seeing the growing results will give you incentive to continue and before long, your project or dream will be consistently blooming forth in measured steps, every day.

It can happen.

Read on.

Ten Minutes a Day is

Seventy Minutes a Week and

280 Minutes a Month and

Sixty Hours a Year.

Let me say that again.

Ten minutes a day is sixty hours a year.

Imagine spending sixty hours this year pursuing the experience you have dreamt of for so long, but never felt you had the time for.

Imagine spending sixty hours this year conquering the tasks that you constantly avoid.

Imagine spending sixty hours this year learning a new language, doing yoga, writing a novel, practicing an instrument, singing, or growing your own food or finally, finally cleaning out that cruddy basement or reorganizing those closets. Then, imagine what else you might be doing, having accomplished all of that.

Imagine.

A powerful thing about approaching a task with Ten Minutes a Day is the way it triggers your involvement. Ten minutes often becomes the portal through which you find your initiative. The timer goes off and you barely notice because you are so happily involved in what you are doing.

There is a mysterious exponential effect that seems to happen. Working with purpose, you climb inside of time and it stretches, blooms. Ten minutes becomes more than ten minutes. Suddenly you have a new ease of inclination and are in the swing of involvement. Tomorrow's ten minutes may grow into more than ten, and you'll be witnessing the impact of your actions every single day.