A Question of Time
As some of you know, I’ve been struggling with managing my time. I’m not sure if it’s the COVID age or what, but the last few months I’ve been walking around in a gelatin dusk. The moment I wake up, I already feel woefully behind.
It’s taken me al long while to realize this, but every time we say ‘yes’ to one thing we are saying ‘No’ to something else, and vice-versa. So being really clear around that before committing is a new focus of mine. I’m tired of ending each day not quite where I want to be.
Action Items: In scriptwriting, a lot of the world’s best figure out their story with a simple index card system. They write down a plot point or a scene on an index card, then they lay out all the index cards and move them around to find the proper flow.
I thought this would be good - just throwing the beats of my life into some general buckets I can then move around and schedule accordingly. Each card carries the same weight at first, but then I place it in the hierarchy based on priority. Here are my cards as of now:
‘Waiting ffor the Bus’ is a term Mark Duplass uses to just sit there and wait for inspiration. I don’t do that nearly enough. So I’ve been starting my mornings waiting for the bus and just thinking for about 20 minutes. This isn’t meditation per se, but more just wrapping my head around the day. Then I chat with my wife Lisa and talk more about what’s what, and how we might get there. By 8:00am, I’ve been getting into the office and writing for an hour. This involves waiting for the bus some more and staring out the window.
I did this all last week and it was a game changer. Because even if nothing else got done, I at least moved the creative ball forward. And it was surprising how much easier everything else got after that (even the QB sprints, which are 25 minutes lost in Quick Books. Yes, even I am becoming friendly with numbers).
Now I’m working on designing the rest of the perfect day - literally my hour to hour schedule. After that, I’ll design the perfect week and so on, and with each passing week increase the Creative Block of time to do the work that really matters. It can be done.
Exercise: What does your perfect day look like? I’m on a mission to shape time and if you want to join me, let me know and we can compare notes. I’d love to know how you prioritize things in a way that makes you happy.
I’ll share more of my schedule later. Until then, keep doing the good work.
