Week 31: Time (The Bullet Journal Method Book Club)

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Hello Sunshine!

This week we’re going into the value of Time and we can harness its power to achieve our goals through small steps.

Resources:

This week’s behind the scenes:

Wk_31_Time.The Bullet Journal Method Book Club. Tiny Ray of Sunshine.jpg

Time

Pages 175 - 182

Welcome!

Kim’s Summary: In this section, Ryder talks about what we can do to make the most of the time we have.

“How often do we catch ourselves fixating on things we can’t change, or worrying about things we can’t predict? That’s a lot of time and energy siphoned away from the one place where we can actually make a difference: the here and now. The quality of our time is determined by our ability to be present.”

Flow is “when we’re totally present, that we unlock our full productive and creative potential…By being strategic with our use of time, however, we can create the conditions where flow is more likely to occur.” 

Time boxing can help you, whether it’s working on responsibilities that you don’t enjoy (but are necessary), or things that are important to you that you’re putting off. “Time boxing adds two key motivational ingredients to a Task you’ve been putting off: structure and urgency. If you only have 30 minutes a day to read something you will be tested on, you’ll make those 30 minutes count. You’re making it painless enough to temper your impatience (“This won’t drag on, thank goodness”), simple enough that you won’t get overwhelmed (“This I can do!”), and challenging enough to engage your attention (“Okay, 30 minutes to get my head into this. Brain, we’ve got this. Go!”).” Spreading this technique out into days can be especially effective for things that will take more than a single half-hour session, such as filing your taxes. 

“The key to creating flow is balancing the challenge of a task with your skill level. If you lack the skills for a given Task, then that Task can quickly cause anxiety and feel overwhelming. Time boxing allows you to whittle away at a Task and incrementally improve your skill in the process.” 

Scheduling the most difficult Tasks first will allow you to get it out of the way. In turn, “it’s much easier to maintain focus and motivation throughout the day when you have something to look forward to.” Scheduling when to do it depends on when you work best, whether it’s early or late in the day.

The concept of memento mori, remembering death, can help humble us and remind us of how to act if these are our last moments.

Discussion Points:

- When do you personally enter flow?

- Do you find time boxing helpful?

- What do you think of the concept of memento mori?

Action List:

- Try out time boxing with a habit or task you want to get done.

- Schedule an activity that’s important to you that you’ve been putting off. Spread it out into multiple days as needed.

- Reflect on what makes you enter flow (conditions, time, etc.) and write those down.

- Write down memento mori and its definition in your Bullet Journal and write down your thoughts about it.

Your thoughts:

Share your thoughts about this week’s topic in the comments below. Feel free to respond to this week’s discussion points.

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