Put a brick in the toilet!

We are all increasingly busy with limited time, and means we can struggle to prioritise or spend time on important things, such as our health, mental well-being, family, and hobbies.

But we can improve many areas of our lives with consistent application of time, even in short bursts.

Growing up in Australia in the 1980s, long hot summers and droughts were typical. With a lack of rain, the water reservoirs for Melbourne were shallow, and the government implemented water restrictions. There was a campaign for everyone to put a brick in their toilet water tank to try and save water.

The brick filled the space of about one litre, and this block in the water tank meant that it used one litre less water every time the toilet filled and wash flushed. Once the brick was in the tank, nobody noticed. Multiply this out over millions of households flushing their toilets multiple times a day, and we could save something precious - hundreds of millions of litres of water every day.

Both Microsoft and Google Calendars give you the option of setting meetings for 25 minutes instead of 30 or 50 minutes instead of 60. Ten minutes at the end of a meeting is just enough time for me to get out and walk a small lap near my house. This activity gets me fresh air, a chance to decompress, adds to my step count, and my fitness rings on my Apple Watch.

Over a week, my diary can also get full of meetings. Scheduling one hour to do training each week can leave me with almost 50 hours of training under my belt at the end of the year. The trick, of course, is to schedule the time in advance at a time of day that will work for you.

This preplanning of your calendar is what I mean when I say, put a brick in the toilet.

How could you save your precious time for things that are a priority for you in a way that no one will notice?

What time can you schedule daily or weekly for health, learning, meditation, decompression, or the things that are important to you?

Put a brick in the toilet.