Time Buckets

Final takeaways from 'The happiness equation '  reading was my rethinking of time buckets. I have not flushed out my thoughts but wanted to paste here pics from my journal. I like rough drafts and scribbles; maybe as I refine it I may write here how my time buckets help me in my self-development, work and other areas of my life.

 

Thinking & Doing Grid

Another cool space scribble Niel uses to explain is the Thinking and Doing Grid.

My introspection of last year helped me realize I overdid some areas of my life especially work and got nearly burnt out. Burning is good but burning out is not good, I almost did.  So I had to rearrange my schedules, meetings, and activities of my life. Niel mentions a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in her book Poetry which I think is a good reminder of the seductive lure of burning. I  re-quote the lines here to set up my post.

 My candle burns at both ends;

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - 

It gives a lovely light!

The temptation to burn for me is high, but the secrets of Shabbat rest are slowly sinking in for me to be intentional in giving more time to reflection, thinking and rearranging my life. 

When you are doing and thinking is in the high mode you are in the BURN quadrant.  It's a good place to be but if you are here for a long time chances are you will burn out for sure. You are incredibly productive, adrenaline runs high and rewards may be high and sometimes to get deadlines met being in this place will help. However seductive the quadrant of productivity is it's hard to always remain there. Consciously knowing when to disengage and the delegate will be key to create for yourself SPACE. This is the place where you create space to almost do nothing, rest, relax and recuperate. The SPACE quadrant can be interjected with practices like the Sabbath, lying on beach, vacation, taking a break from social media etc. These are practices I have engaged in.  However high doses of being in the SPACE quadrant can also be harmful with habits like laziness, oversleeping and inactivity. But you need to create SPACE and also be conscious of keeping it healthy. 

Creating space for THINK time is also critically important.  I like to use the word 'Ponder' (my bestie uses that word a lot :); I also like the word 'reflect'.  This space is your pondering, wondering and reflecting space. The Sabbath practice helps here to where you are journaling, thinking, connecting, storying, engaging your mind and heart. In this quadrant the thinking is in high mode and doing is low. 

The last quadrant DO simply denote 'doing'. Working on your daily routines, tasks, and projects.   Happy people flip flop between these quadrants actively knowing when to engage, disengage, ponder, wonder and manage those spaces!

Shalom,

Sam 

Decision making Grid

I like Niel Pasricha's book "The Happiness Equation". Last month I re-read it and I like the space grid scribbles he uses to explain things. I have often used 4 by 4 grids to explain and teach concepts this way. It's simplicity is good for creating mental frameworks or models of thinking. The next three posts are going to be simple grids he has used in his book that I want to jot down here for my key takeaways.

How should we make decisions fast and how should we slow down on certain kind of decisions. The secret is getting rid of the extra weight of hundreds of decisions we make every day. The key is to think in this framework of importance and time.

If the decisions you can make happen in cyclical fashion every month, every week, every day then Automate them. These decisions will unclutter and free your brain. IoT devices and mobile phones and automated systems can be programmed to help you meditate, breathe, pay monthly bills, adjust your home thermostat etc.  Automate falls into the lower quadrant as shown in the below figure. 

Decisions that need a little bit more time in terms of thinking but are chores low in importance can be regulated. For example, time blocking an hour of the day where you are only doing emails. Or article reading two - 15 minute blocks for me which I have the option to hit one a day.

The decisions that are high in importance but low in time are important for your social consciousness, connectedness and relationship building. This quadrant is the Effectuate. You simply just do it. Saying hello to your team early morning, checking in with your bosses, creating situational awareness, dinner time with family, putting kids to bed, praying with the family are some of the things that fall for me in the effectuate quadrant of those decisions.

Decisions that are big and have long term or even short term impact have to usually be suspended into the Debate quadrant. This is because they are high in importance and take time. Here is where leaders and teams need to debate, have an abundance of counselors, divergent and diverse thinking. This is where we deliberately slow the decision making down so you can engage in deliberation and debate.

Automate, Regulate, and Effectuate decisions help in removing weight, clutter from your brain.  Deep thinking, pondering, wondering and questioning help you to make better effective decisions.