Timeboxing x meditation
Let the thoughts come
It was my birthday on Saturday, you know. 46 years old. Birthdays can bring a sense of urgency, time running out, fewer chances to avoid living out our one life as a life of regret.
That being said…today’s is intended to be a light, breezy newsletter, as it’s August and so many are enjoying hols.
I was on a podcast this week with China. We used some Chinese software to run the call and all I could see was the 4–5 people in the team from the publishers (Cheers). Actually, that was handy; I’d have fluffed my lines more than I did, had I known that there were several thousand people listening in.
Anyway, one of the questions was about how I think of what to prioritise in the morning. In the book, and historically, I have drawn from a combination of my to-do list, my inbox, my head and the calendar itself. This month I’ve tried to be more reliant on my thoughts and feelings.
More concretely, I instigate, for my morning 15-minute ‘⏳ Timebox today’ session, a short meditation.
Specifically, I:
Grab a piece of paper and a pen.
Sit on the sofa.
Close my eyes.
Let thoughts come, and jot down any task ideas — eyes still closed. (Writing just needs to be legible to you! See pic above.)
After about 5 minutes (I go by feel), I open my eyes and cross-check against the standard inputs: to-do list, inbox, and calendar.
Prioritise the list and drop the chosen ones into my calendar.
This always gets done within my daily 15-min timebox.
I think this is a nice, small evolution of the method. It’s calming for one thing. I also feel more motivated to do the things I then have in my calendar. I’ve really chosen them myself. The extra time in your thoughts or on paper - ie not glued to a screen - have felt welcome also.
There’s a chapter on ‘As mindfulness’ (Chapter 19) in the book which is relevant here too. Essentially my point there is that a timebox is an easier, longer, more forgiving version of that elusive, ephemeral ‘present moment’.
I’d like you to try this tomorrow! If you don’t have one already, put a 15-min ‘Timebox meditation’ appointment in your calendar now, to recur every weekday. This will take you 60 seconds and improve your life! Don’t even read the end of this blog - please just do it now!! And when the time comes, have paper & pencil to hand. Let me know how it goes as a late birthday present.
Marc
Links you may like
7 days of Timeboxing (the free email micro-course)
Timeboxing, the book (US)
Timeboxing, the book (UK)
Timeboxing, el libro (Español)
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