Wait. Learn. Flow.

Big Tab Three, I’m focused on you! There are several parts to you, the first of which I have no control over – TIME. You need time so I will wait.

Part of being through sharing the history and now being caught up to the present with this blog is that we are dropping out of hyper warp speed and into super duper slow-mo. It was a huge outpouring to put together nearly three years of history in order to get you up to speed, and now you get to experience the wait of healing in real-time with me.

It

is

slow.

But, time is going to pass with or without me. It doesn’t care that I am waiting, that I wish it would hurry up, or even sometimes slow down. Despite being a human construct, time does as time does, so I best make good use of it. 

So, I fill my days with order. Time blocked, organized steps towards achieving goals, acknowledging and celebrating every box checked as one step closer to done. After all, the way to achieving the impossible (anything impossible) is through tiny steps performed daily. I don’t know exactly when the end of Big Tab Three is yet – I wish I had a gigantic, chocolate-filled Advent calendar to count down the days – but I know that it is coming.

Learn

One of my favorite things to do that happens to give the illusion of time passing more quickly is to learn something new. In my case, a lot of things new! Instead of focusing on what I can’t do right now, being sad and impatient to return to those things, I’m filling the time with new and different things. Mostly in the form of listening to podcasts and reading books, but now also everything related to website set-up and, as of yesterday, NILMDTS training. I am able to pack a lot of learning into my days, and this learning almost always leads into Flow, the state that gives that time-passing-more-quickly illusion.

Flow

Flow is when we are in a state of peak performance. In this state, time seems to not exist at all. There is only the present moment – until you look up and realize two hours have magically passed. Learning new things that I am passionate about launches me into Flow, and having chunks of time to spend there helps Flow appear sooner and last longer, therefore my solution for getting into and staying in Flow is…

Time Blocking

Time blocking is scheduling your day into large chunks of time that are dedicated to particular tasks rather than skipping back and forth, to and from things all day long. It results in better focus and productivity, and major opportunities for Flow.

Since I am in the process of revising this, I’ll share a rough view of my current time blocking:

6am – Early morning Me Mode. This catapults my day into Awesome Mode, full of morning Flow. No email, no texts.

• Journal writing – I’m using this one right now.
• Gratitudes – I write three a day, expanding on at least one.
• Ignorant List – This is a list of things I really don’t know and might like to look up or take time to dig into further. I add at least one new item a day and share it with my younger son so we can explore things together.
• Read – The Daily Stoic followed by a passage or two (or three) from Only Love Today.
• Write – I like to write, or at least begin, each day’s blog post while my mind is fresh and the house is quiet. Early morning writing also gives me time to rumble with the sh*tty first draft throughout the rest of the day.
• Ride – Some days, depending on the schedule for the rest of the day, I ride the Peloton instead and push the writing to later.

8am – Kids get up and I am in Mom Mode.

Late morning – Gym time. I may not be able to go ham and do full workouts, but I can do upper body. I’m preparing my body for when I can resume full-time Athlete Mode. A lot of Flow happens here. No phone, texts, email, etc.

Midday/afternoons and the rest of the day – Mom and Family Mode. Activities, classes, shopping, whatever needs to be done. There is a lot less structure here and varies each day, but this is when I can often get moments of learning and/or writing tucked in – while waiting in the car or walking during one of my kids’ classes, etc. Some of these waits are long enough to get into Flow.

Late evenings – My own time again. Journal, read, learn, meditate, go to bed. Me Mode to bookend the closing day and prepare for the coming day.

This structure is a total win – I move closer to the finish line, I have productive days that are never filled with upset about what I’m missing, and I’m accomplishing some new goals while learning. I have a lot more to say about Flow and how it works for me in music, art, and sport, but I’ll leave it with learning and time-blocking for today.

tl;dr – Time must pass. Flow helps time feel like it is moving faster. Learning is a gateway into flow. Time blocking allows more space for learning and flow therefore making time feel like it is passing faster. 

I will wait, Big Tab Three, but I will also own the time and be better for it. There is opportunity in everything so I am choosing to use the time to make and do things that matter.

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