Do I need to be a time management master to find 10 minutes a day for Spanish?
Until recently, I actually had no idea what the word "capacity" meant. Or rather, I thought it was mainly related to something technical.
But then I entered a period where not only I, but also many people around me started saying: "I don't have the capacity for that anymore."
And gradually I realized that it's actually a pretty good term for a person too.
Because capacity isn't just about time. Theoretically, I can have ten free minutes, and still not have the strength to open a Spanish textbook. It's also about how much energy, attention, and mental space I have for another task.
When I started looking into this more, I began to imagine my capacity a bit like a battery. In the morning, it's usually more charged, and throughout the day, various things gradually drain it—decision-making, work, children, noise, emotions, obligations, switching from one task to another.
Smarter and more mature individuals probably don't need this explained, but I even had to explain to myself that if I don't want to be completely exhausted after putting the kids to bed, it's not ideal to open heavy or negative topics in the evening. 😎
But it took me the longest to understand something else:
If something is important to me and also demanding, I can't leave it for a time when I have no capacity left.
For a long time, I kept telling myself: "Why should I do something that takes energy first thing in the morning? Then I won't get anything else done!" 😃
Well, obviously.
But if I want to do that demanding thing at all, I have to give it a place when I still have the capacity for it.
And that's exactly how I finally managed to fit ten minutes of Spanish into my day.
So it's not that I suddenly became a time management master. I still have three small children, and my day definitely doesn't look like the perfectly scheduled diary of someone who meditates at 5:30 AM and answers emails at 6:00 AM. 😀
I just gave Spanish a clear place in the part of the day when there's still a chance I'll have my head in the right space for it.
And how do I ensure peace and quiet for those ten minutes?
Unfortunately, there's nothing original or particularly noble about it. I simply put on a fairy tale for my middle son. To my surprise, a quite good one—just turn on Czech Television's Déčko channel.
Then I sit down at the table, open my Spanish materials, and start the timer.
Ten minutes.
Not because I necessarily don't have more time.
But because I'm starting to understand that with three small children, time isn't the only precious commodity.
My capacity is too. 🙂