Hey Time Dorks,
January has flown by, hasn’t it?
Time has a weird way of being invisible, but it doesn’t have to be.
This week, let’s talk about a tactic to help you see time, which helps nudge you to focus on what matters with each moment of your day.
🏃♂️Something to Try
Have you ever blocked off time for an important task, but after making a cup of coffee, checking a few emails, and scrolling through the news, the time allotted has vanished?
I’m guilty of this more than I’d care to admit.
Time is precious, yet too often it feels fleeting.
If you’ve felt this too, I have a tactic (and a tool) you could try.
We call it Set a Visible Timer (#52) and the tool we recommend for this tactic is the Time Timer.
And we should say up front that we don’t get a cut of Time Timer sales because this will sound like a blatant sales pitch.
When I have an important Highlight I want to focus on, I use the Time Timer to visualize the amount of time I want to dedicate to that task or activity.
Making time visible helps create a visceral sense of urgency, which helps me drop into Laser mode.
It reminds me that I don’t have to maintain a high degree of focus forever. That’s literally impossible.
Instead, I know I only need to maintain Laser concentration for the time left on the clock.
While this clock was originally designed for children, we think it works amazingly well for adults.
Not only do we recommend using it for your daily Highlight, but it can also be great to use in team meetings, design sprints, or any working moment where time matters.
I bring a Time Timer with me when I’m facilitating a Make Time workshop for a client.
Jake even uses the Time Timer when he’s playing with his son:
If you want to supercharge your focus this year, experiment with Setting a Visible Timer.
As always, let us know how it goes!
🤖 Tech & Tools
It should be no surprise that this week’s tool is the Time Timer.
There are tons of different versions, but we’re partial to the Make Time Edition which has a 120-minute visual time and comes with a bonus stack of Reflect worksheets.
📚 Timely Quotes
Thanks for reading, see you next week!
Connor
