Flash of Time

I had a childhood friend who dabbled as an amateur magician.

One day, he came to my house after a shopping spree at the local magic store.

He slowly walked across the room and assumed his most magical pose.

He swished his hand, and then—poof!—he launched a bright fireball into the air.

I was stunned.

Being an amateur magician, he quickly revealed the packet of flash paper that powered his pyrotechnics.

We jumped around the room hurling bursts of flame and shouting magical phrases—Presto! Abracadabra!

Suddenly, he froze.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re out of paper.”

No more magic.

I get that same sinking feeling some days when I look at my calendar.

Every hour, day, or week is as fleeting as a tissue treated with nitric acid in the hands of two 10-year olds with access to an open flame.

In pursuit of self-mastery, I’m constantly working to improve my time management skills.

I’m trying out James Clear’s “identity based habits” technique:

IDENTITY

Become the type of leader who manages—rather than is managed by—my calendar.

SMALL WIN

At the end of each day, I will rate each meeting or activity based on how much impact my time investment had on my stated objectives.

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I’ve been grooving on James Clear’s suggestion that transformation begins by changing our beliefs before moving on to our process and the results that will net us our ultimate objective. Read more about his identity based habits here: https://jamesclear.com/identity-based-habits