By John Valentik, MS, CSCS, NASM-PES, CES

If you’re anything like me, you probably wear a lot of hats.

On any given day, I’m a teaching professor, small business owner, rental property owner, author, and someone who enjoys training for new athletic challenges. Above all, though, I’m a husband and a father. Those two roles will always matter most.

When life is full of responsibilities, it’s easy to let each day carry you from one obligation to the next. Before you know it, you’ve spent the entire day taking care of everyone and everything except yourself. That’s why I recently started scheduling something on my calendar called “JV Time.”

In my case, JV stands for John Valentik. But I’d encourage you to create your own version—your own “You Time.”

If you saw my Google Calendar, it would probably make some of you anxious. Almost everything has a place. I rely on it to organize meetings, classes, family commitments, workouts, and deadlines. But recently I realized something. Outside of career or exercise, rarely was I scheduling true time for myself.

So I began blocking off just 30 minutes, three mornings each week. Not to be more productive. Not to work ahead. Not to answer emails. To just be.

When I created the recurring appointment, I made a short list of possibilities—not a checklist, but ideas. Here is the unedited text.

• Freedom to do nothing productive without feeling guilty
• Fewer interruptions between me and my own experience
  • Be in thought without technology
  • Walk/Get Outside
  • Spirituality
  • Learn guitar
  • Read
  • Explore something purely out of curiosity
  • Read philosophy or Stoicism
  • Listen to a podcast
  • Poetry

This past Tuesday, something unexpected happened. I wrote my very first poem. That wasn’t my plan when I sat down that morning. I simply had the space to let my mind wander, and the words came naturally. And no, I won’t be sharing that haha!

Other mornings, I’ve done far less exciting things. I’ve sipped coffee. I’ve read a few pages of a book that had nothing to do with work. I’ve simply sat outside with the dog.

And honestly, that’s the point. Life is busy. The specific responsibilities may look different from week to week, but most of us spend our days moving rapidly from one thing to the next.

My challenge to you is simple. Carve out a little time that belongs only to you. Maybe it’s thirty minutes. Maybe it’s fifteen. Maybe it’s just once a week.

You don’t need to accomplish anything. You don’t need to learn something new. You don’t need to answer messages, scroll social media, or cross another item off your to-do list. Just be.

Some of our best ideas, greatest creativity, and deepest reflection happen during moments that look unproductive from the outside. Unfortunately, many of those moments have quietly disappeared. The second we experience even a hint of boredom, we instinctively reach for our phones and begin scrolling through an endless stream of content chosen by algorithms instead of ourselves.

What if, instead, you reclaimed just a small piece of that time? Take the reins of your own life, even if it’s only fifteen minutes each week.

You may be surprised by what your brain (not your phone) is capable of.

Now get out there and do nothing!