HELP! I Only Have 30 Minutes
You don’t need more time. You need a way to skip the parts you have no energy for today.
Oops, this post was supposed to go out on Sunday and I forgot to set the timer. Enjoy some hot fresh and fast productivity.
You’re pressed for time, and the clock says you’ve got thirty minutes until your next obligation. Enough to be useful, but not enough to do anything in-depth. You sit down anyway, hoping to surprise yourself.
Instead, you open a tab to a blank document that stares like it’s daring you to start. Instead, you open another tab to YouTube to educate yourself on a topic that’s unimportant, but helps you avoid the work.
\You want to create, but using your only pocket of time on something like writing a caption or describing your own project without sounding like a pitch robot feels like a terrible trade. So the moment slips away. No rest, no progress, just that familiar drag where creative energy meets resistance and neither one wins.
The problem isn’t time. It’s friction. The weight of starting and the doubt that sneaks in before you even begin.
Life Comes in Fragments
Most days, I spend my time in the gaps between school drop-offs, practices, and errands. I’m proud to be present for all of it, but it leaves very little uninterrupted flow.
Some days I try to start something, but hesitate because I know I’ll have to stop too soon. Other days, I don’t try at all. I scroll, distract myself, and let the window close, and it’s an unsustainable practice.
Lately though, instead of trying to force momentum, I will open up new thread (or sometimes continue an older one) in ChatGPT and start talking to it about everything I’ve got going on and then ask it what I can work on within the small amount of time I have available, but instead of just using the app to help me with productivity, it can also log my progress and keep me accountable.
The 30-Minute Win
You don’t need to complete an entire project in thirty minutes. You just need something to go well: A sentence that lands or an idea that finally takes shape. The point isn’t efficiency, but forward motion.
That’s what this prompt offers. Not a checklist or pressure to finish. Just a simple, responsive nudge to help you stay in motion when starting feels impossible.
Say you’re prepping a product launch; Five tabs open to different apps, mailing list at the ready, but no energy left to write anything meaningful. The clock is ticking.
With this prompt, you can ask the AI to generate caption starters in your voice, write a product headline that doesn’t make you cringe, or repurpose a draft you forgot you had. When you need to make one small dent in your workload, this prompt will help you make that happen. You’re not building from scratch. You’re steering just enough to stay in the game.
Note: This prompt won’t hold your hand completely. It will lead you down a path, but the training wheels are off. If you have questions during the process, ask the app and it will guide you.
Don’t Miss Out
If you’ve ever wasted a creative window because everything felt too heavy to start, this is for you. Members get access to every prompt, plus new tools every Sunday and Wednesday.
Join now and use this one the next time the clock says thirty minutes and your brain says it’s not worth it.
The “I Only Have 30 Minutes” Prompt
Use this prompt when you want to make creative progress without pressure, overthinking, or unnecessary decisions. Copy and paste this into your AI chatbot of choice (I use ChatGPT+). This will ask you a series of questions and devise a plan for you for short-burst productivity.