I am a medical student. I sat in lectures. I attended practical. I spent full day on studying gross anatomy.
But I had a secret.
In my backpack, buried under my lab coat and a lunch box of rice & curry, was a notebook. And in that notebook was my real life.
I didn’t have a fancy room. I didn’t have hours of free time to sit by a window and sip tea. I had 30 minutes in canteen during lunch. I had the 1-hour bus ride home.
Most people think you need a whole day to be a writer. They wait for the “perfect time.” But if you work a 9-to-5 job or a student like me, the perfect time never comes. You have to steal the time.
And honestly? The words I wrote in those stolen moments were the best ones I ever wrote. Because I fought for them.
We all say it. “I’m too busy.”
But let’s be honest. We aren’t just busy. We are tired.
After eight hours of working for a boss, your brain feels like mush. The last thing you want to do is open a laptop. It is much easier to open Netflix.
But here is the truth about time: You don’t need big blocks of it.
You don’t need four hours on a Sunday. You just need 15 minutes.
- 15 minutes = 200 words.
- Do that 4 times a week = 800 words (That is a whole blog post!).
You don’t need to find more time. You just need to use the “dead” time you are already wasting.
Here is how I built my blog while working 40+ hours a week. I turned into a “Time Snatcher.”
1. The Voice Note Method
I used to listen to music on my drive to university. Then I realized I was wasting an hour a day.
- The Trick: I started using the voice memo app on my phone. I would talk out my blog posts while driving.
- “Okay, so the title is ‘How to make better coffee.’ Point one is buy fresh beans…”
- By the time I reached university, I had a whole draft recorded. I just had to type it out later.
2. The Lunch Break Method
Your lunch break is golden.
- The Trick: Eat your sandwich in 10 minutes. Then, put on noise-canceling headphones (or just big headphones so people leave you alone).
- Set a timer for 20 minutes. Write as fast as you can. Do not edit. Just go.
- You will be amazed at how much you can do when you know the clock is ticking.
3. The “One Show” Sacrifice
This one hurts, but it works.
- The Trick: We all watch TV in the evening to relax. I didn’t stop watching TV. I just cut one episode.
- Instead of watching three episodes of my favourite show (btw I love Stranger Things), I watched two.
- That gave me 45 minutes of extra time every night.
Here is the biggest lesson I learned: Manage your energy, not just your time.
If you are a “Morning Person,” wake up 30 minutes early to write. If you try to write at night, you will be too tired. If you are a “Night Owl,” write after dinner.
Don’t force yourself to write when your brain is asleep. Find your “power hour” (even if it is just a “power 20 minutes”) and protect it.
It is not easy working two jobs (your 9-to-5 and your blog). Some days, you will want to quit. Some days, you will just want to sleep.
But one day, you will be sitting at your desk at work, and your phone will buzz. It will be a comment from a reader saying, “Thank you, this changed my day.”
And you will smile a secret smile. You will realize that all those lunch breaks and early mornings were building something real.
You aren’t just an employee. You are a creator. And that dream? It is worth every stolen minute.
