Anthony Trollope's 15-minute routine for writing even when you don't have time
Notes on giants - Number 29
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🏷️ Categories: Habits, Creativity, Writing.
Anthony Trollope wrote 47 novels dedicating only 3 hours a day.
Between 1847 and 1885 he published 47 novels, 18 nonfiction works, 12 short stories, 2 plays, and an endless volume of articles and letters… all while working full-time at the post office. Nothing in his life looked like that of a “professional writer.” And yet, he produced more than almost any of them.
His routine proves something uncomfortable: the problem is almost never a lack of time.
Every morning, Trollope sat with a clock in front of him. He wrote 250 words every 15 minutes. Three hours a day. Twelve 15-minute blocks. Day after day. Year after year. If it was writing time, he wrote. If he finished one work, he immediately started the next—he didn’t stop.
He advanced in sync with the ticking of his clock, unstoppable.
It seems simple, but his routine has deep implications for how we use time and organize our lives in this accelerated modern world.
Let’s look at why his routine was so effective and how to apply it in our own lives.
Trollope didn’t “write”: he executed a system
Anthony Trollope had a ritual: writing before anyone else woke up.
By 5:30 a.m. he was already at his desk, coffee in hand, while the rest of the world slept. This was his routine day after day for 38 years. That alone says a lot about his attitude: he didn’t rely on motivation or the muse.
He relied on a system.
Notice the detail: he could have chosen to write his 3 hours at any time of day, but he wrote while everyone else slept. Rising early isolated him from the noise of the world, from distractions; it allowed him to enter a flow state and make use of every minute. Like Hemingway and Murakami, Trollope needed to write at dawn, when no one and nothing could interrupt him.
These were his crucial hours; we all have them—and we can use them.
The Trollope Method
Trollope began by rereading what he had written the day before for 30 minutes.
With this simple habit, he ensured that each day started on the right foot—with a fresh mind focused on where he had left off. And then… he began his minimalist writing routine.
He placed the clock in front of him.
He divided his time into 15-minute blocks—12 in total.
His goal was to write around 250 words per block.
Each 15-minute block gave Trollope a simple, achievable target. It wasn’t a crazy goal; if he focused, he could reach it. The key is that this structure leveraged what psychology today calls the goal-gradient effect: when we see that a goal is close, our energy spikes and we perform at our best.
Trollope designed a high-concentration system with 12 mini-goals per day.
The problem with big goals
Most people abandon their projects not because the projects are impossible, but because the way they measure progress drains their energy.
Think of a project lingering in your mind: writing a book, launching a newsletter, creating a course, learning a new language… These are projects that last months (or years), and we tend to measure them with giant indicators: “book finished,” “1,000 subscribers,” “first launch,” or “speak fluently.”
Meaning you can work for months without having anything “done.”
You work day after day without checking anything off your list. Yes, technically you’re moving forward, but emotionally it feels like you’re standing still. That friction, sustained over time, undermines your consistency until you quit.
We don’t lose to the project. We lose to the frustration of not seeing progress.
Trollope’s method is the solution.
The Trollope Method and the Goal-Gradient Effect
This is where Trollope’s routine becomes dangerous—for your excuses.
Instead of measuring his progress in chapters or books, he measured it in 15-minute blocks.
A novel is not a novel. It is a chain of quarter hours, one after another, at 250 words per block. Every time he completed a block, he could mentally mark: “Goal accomplished.” He didn’t have to wait 3 weeks to finish a chapter or 3 months to finish a draft.
His brain received a reward every 15 minutes.
This has two psychological effects:
You maintain momentum for longer because your reward system always has a new achievement just ahead.
Your day changes tone very quickly: Not even 30 minutes have passed and you already have 2 “goals” in the bag. It’s the same logic Hemingway used when counting his daily words: the feeling of progressing at an unstoppable pace is addictive.
Trollope’s genius wasn’t writing fast.
It was creating a system that made him want to return to the desk every morning.
The overwhelming advantage of waking up early
There’s a detail in this story we can’t ignore.
If you start your day with what you’re passionate about, the rest of the day looks different. Trollope understood this. At 5:30 a.m., while everyone else slept, he was already making progress on what mattered to him. In the first hour of the day, he had already completed four writing blocks—about 1,000 words—a chain of four small victories.
Everything else (work, meetings, bureaucracy…) came afterward.
Imagine your mental state if you completed your daily goal for your personal project by 8 a.m. You protect your energy for what truly matters.
What all this means for us
Up to this point, the story of Anthony Trollope.
Now, you.
If you write a newsletter or a book, your situation resembles Trollope’s far more than that of any famous author you know: you have a job, obligations, little time and too many distractions—so do I. Yet many remain convinced the problem is “not enough hours.”
Trollope’s routine proves otherwise.
Imagine adopting the three elements of his method:
Set an early time slot for your personal project.
Divide that slot into 15-minute blocks and set a realistic target.
Keep a visible record of how many blocks you complete each day and track your pace.
None of this requires talent or more free time.
You just need to make your next 15 minutes count.
Want to go deeper? Here are 3 related ideas:
✍️ Your turn: What small change could you make in your routine to apply the Trollope method to your personal project?
💭 Quote of the day: “I found that the 250 words came as regularly as my watch.” — Anthony Trollope
See you next time! 👋
References 📚
Currey, M. (2013). Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work.
This is interesting. His word count goal is roughly the amount of a page of typing single-spaced. That's reachable. He must have a mathematical mind to be so rigid in the goal setting. When I wrote my novels or now when I work on my Substack pieces, I dive in a write until it doesn't come any more. I usually finish a rough draft of an essay in about an hour, then tweak it once before letting it "simmer." It's similar to his morning session only not as rigid in the time frames. His system, though, would undoubtedly help lots of new writers discipline themselves to ignore the muse or lack thereos and just write. That takes time and practice, but it comes after a while. Maybe I could apply Trollope's system to my piano discipline. Heavens knows I need it. Only disperse the 15-minute blocks through the day and work on just one or two pieces. Stop and rest, then another block. Thank you, Alvaro.