15 Extremely Useful Things You Can Do In 15 Minutes

Fifteen minutes isn’t a whole lot of time to get anything done, right? WRONG.

Let's be productive people.

Below is a list of things you can get done in 15 minutes. Below you’ll find Saint Velvet's favorite 15 useful things you can do in 15 minutes.

1. Get Fit. Get fit in fifteen minutes with CrossFit - Hey don't knock it before you try it. There are 15-minute workouts that will have you feeling stronger and fitter after just one session. It works, but it's not easy. . Although the workouts are short, they’re tough and effective. Expect to sweat buckets.

2. Learn Something New. Watch an educational video streaming at TED.com, Academic Earth, or Khan Academy. So many free resources out there to educate yourself in something new. Use it, I have!

3. Point 2 brings me to this one, Get a Harvard-Quality Education. This is something I’ve already written about on this blog: you can get a Harvard Quality Education in just fifteen minutes a day (You can also go back to my post about this for more resources).

4. Expand Your Network. if you have fifteen minutes to spare, you can use that time to expand your network.

Grab all of the business cards you’ve been given at events or that you’ve gathered as you come into contact with others throughout the day. Look for these people on LinkedIn and add them to your network. Delete the non-personal ‘note’ that LinkedIn sends out with each invitation to connect and add something personal. Now you can network on LinkedIn with the people from whom you’ve collected business cards.

5. Read the Bible. I found a plan online for reading the Bible from cover to cover in one year by reading for fifteen minutes a day. Here it is.

6. Declutter. Decluttering can become an important way to practice self-care because it helps you take control of your home, your life and your “stuff” to improve your overall well-being.

Elizabeth Larkin is an organization and productivity expert. She writes a blog— www.thespruce.com –filled with advice to help people make their best home. The core of her organizational technique is the idea that you can do 15-Minute All-Home Clutter Sweeps.

7. Move a Goal Forward. Joan Bolker is the author of “Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day”. She admits that she used that title because it’s catchy, and that it’s unlikely that you’ll actually finish a dissertation at that speed. However, she adds that a mere fifteen minutes a day is better than not working on your dissertation at all.

Use that same advice on any goal that you’ve set for yourself. If you can work on your goal for more than fifteen minutes a day, that would be ideal. But if all you have are fifteen minutes, put that time to use in order to move your goal along. Making slow progress is always better than making no progress at all.

8. Meditate. The benefits of meditation have been well documented: stress relief; reduce anxiety: rejuvenation; better sleep; improved memory and concentration; and so on. Fifteen minutes of meditation a day can do wonders.

9. Have “You” Time. For fifteen minutes do something just for you in which raises your energy level instead of draining your energy away. This can be reading a great novel, writing in your journal, or doing whatever recharges you.

10. Fix Something That’s Broken. Fifteen minutes is enough time to fix something that’s broken, or at least contact someone who can fix it. Here are two examples:

You can change the light bulb in the closet that burned out a week ago; or Sew on that button that came loose on your favorite jacket.

If you’ve been meaning to call a plumber to fix the leaky faucet in the kitchen sink, use the fifteen minutes to set up an appointment that will work well with your schedule.

11. Strengthen Your Relationships. If you have an extra fifteen minutes use them to email/text a friend or call your sister. Better yet, call your grandmother (grandmothers love it when you call them). You can also use the fifteen minutes to arrange a coffee or lunch meeting with someone you’ve been meaning to reconnect with.

12. Take a Power Nap. Sara C. Mednick, PhD, sleep expert and author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life says the following about power naps:

“You can get incredible benefits from 15 to 20 minutes of napping. You reset the system and get a burst of alertness and increased motor performance. That’s what most people really need to stave off sleepiness and get an energy boost.”

So if you find yourself with fifteen minutes on your hands, use them to take a nap.

13. Update Your Resume. If you find yourself with fifteen extra minutes you should use that time to update your résumé. I mean, why not?!

Make sure that your job history is up to date. Read over your job descriptions and see if you can improve how you describe your job responsibilities and achievements or just update your references.

Having an updated résumé on hand will allow you to take advantage of any sudden opportunities that may present themselves.

14. Do Some Honest Self Examining. Spend fifteen minutes honestly evaluating your career, your work –life balance, your relationships, and the progress that you’re making on achieving your goals.  Ask yourself questions like:

Are you heading in the right direction?

Is there any area of your life that you’ve been neglecting?

So on and so forth.

15. Lastly, Start writing a blog post or take up Journalism. You might not be able to write a whole thought or story in fifteen minutes, but you can at least get started. Then, later when you have more time, it will be easier to finish something you’ve already started than it would be to start from scratch. University of Rochester has an interesting Health Encyclopedia post about

Journaling for Mental Health that talks about benefits such as Managing anxiety, Reducing stress, Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns and more.

‘The secret of getting ahead is getting started’ - Mark Twain

- S