How 12-Minute and Writing Saved Me

Today, I would like to tell you how 12-Minute and writing really got me out of a bad very place earlier this year.

To some extent, using the 12-Minute Approach and writing again literally saved my life.

Hitting The Wall

In 2013, lure by interesting work related projects, I gradually stopped writing. By the start of 2014, I had completely stopped any writing except from some technical stuff for work.

Working conditions and relations were far from perfect. For a while, my colleagues and I felt all our efforts were sabotaged by management. They probably didn’t do it on purpose but their lack of leadership and poor management skills resulted in a very tense working atmosphere and greatly affected the efficiency of the entire organisation.

Repetitive failures and lack of planning were also affecting the morale of the team.

To make things worse, some good employees left and sadly, the whole situation is not getting better to this day.

In those circumstances, late in 2014, I hit the Wall!
  

With all my hearth, I had been working day in day out, determined to conclude on a huge project from a year earlier. Then one morning, just before lunch, I suddenly felt dizzy and almost fainted. My body was giving me an obvious and important warning.

For several months after that, I really struggled. Dealing with some nagging health issues, my mental wellbeing was also beginning to falter. I almost dropped everything and abandoned for good.

In mid-2015, I manage to get back on my feet and decided to focus more on family and personal activities. Despite all the negative vibes at work, I will try to remain professional and continue to accomplish my duties.

In that vein, I invested some of my remaining energy back into writing and also revived my ongoing pursue to Escape 9-to-5.

On top of that, full of good intentions, I tried to Revive my Blog but ran into some additional difficulties.

On the better note, I finally was able to Sign a New Agreement for a 6-month leave of absence in 2017.

Writing Regularly Again

Writing and juggling with new ideas keeps me alive and well so I really have to do it as often as possible.

Writing helps me escape all the mumble-jumble of a 9-to-5 job (if only it was 9 to 5). 

As strange as it may sound; writing is a very personal activity for me. I still like to communicate my views but writing is more about reflecting than telling others a story as the inner search aspect of it truly relaxes and soothes me.

So to satisfy my writing cravings and needs, one of my main goals is now to write at least 12 lines every weekday.

Writing on a regular basis really keeps the flow going and new interesting ideas pop up all the time, even when you’re not actually in a writing session. You can’t let these goodies slip away so I quickly note them if I can’t develop them right away.

There’s a French saying: «L’appétit vient en mangeant» that could be roughly translated to «You can work out an appetite by eating». About the same goes with writing: the more you write, the more you get inspired to write even more.

I frequently compose a dozen lines in the first half of most days and 12 extra ones in the later part of it.

On writing days, I try to produce at least 12 lines in the morning, 12 more in the afternoon and 12 extra ones in the evening. 

Getting Back to Basics and Staying Balance

To keep a genuine pace at work, I now take 12-Minute early in the morning to plan my day and I usually attempt to tackle around a dozen tasks each day (number 12 again and again). I make a point to invest 12-Minute once a day to fix or tweak something to improve and change things for the better.

I also try to submit and deliver one substantial project every 12 weeks. Keeping that kind of mid-term focus has always worked for me.

To stay healthy and energized, I take extended lunchtime breaks to work out or play games with my friends. Furthermore, I normally manage to reward myself with an extra day off every 12 days or so.

Within these boundaries, I can remain efficient and productive doing my job without being too stressed or compromising my health.

Incorporating the 12-Minute Approach in my daily routine really helps me stay balanced and revitalized my life. It allows me to free up time for vital things essential to my wellbeing like writing.

I sincerely hope my humble story can inspire some of you.

Illustration by me