The Zen of Sovereign Living

I was hoping to start my New Year’s resolutions by posting on this blog every other day beginning January 1st, 2010 in part to hold myself accountable and to hopefully connect with others who might share the same thoughts (explained further down below). However, I started a new business and got sidetracked…okay, WAY sidetracked.

So, here I am…not really feeling totally prepared to start and using Tumblr because I liked the platform simply because it made it easier for me to focus…and as you probably have already figured out, that is one of my challenges.

So what is this about?

A few years ago I found myself working 60+ hours a week and was incredibly busy managing a number of new offices in a rapidly changing market niche. I was overwhelmed with my endless “to do” list and the constant sense of never getting caught up-much less making time for a personal life. Fortunately, a friend of mine turned me on to David Allen’s, Getting Things Done (or “GTD” as it is fondly known) and before I finished the first chapter I was in “Productivity Paradise”. It all made so much sense and really did have a profound effect on how I handled my time, tasks and priorities.

But…(you knew this was coming didn’t you?) although the concept of Collect-Process-Organize-Review-Do seemed simple enough the actual processes were far from simple. In fact, I discovered that I was spending a lot of time just managing the system. I bought software like Omnifocus and I purchased piles of folders to create my own 43 folders and I synced it all to my PDA and later my iphone.

What I began to notice is that I was slowly losing ground. Meaning that the actual system itself was dragging on me…Did I process my inbox to zero? What about my weekly review and don’t even get me started on my 50,000’ view. It was almost like the system became a religion for me. Something I needed and had to follow precisely to get through my life—but now I was finding the system itself was a burden. To be clear, let me say that GTD did profoundly change they way I organized information in general—specifically by just collecting everything and getting it out of my head. That part worked very well…but the rest…not so much.

So I just stopped everything.

I gave it up and went back to my long to-do list-although unlike my pre-GTD days, this time my to-do list was culled from one inbox of collected stuff so things were marginally better than before. I then followed my new self styled, less-than-productive program until…well, until now.

Despite this happening only a few months ago, I don’t remember how I first found Leo Babauta’s blog, Zen Habits but I do know that I immediately felt like I found something special and very unique. I loved the clean, simple layout without all the distractions of what to read next. It was simple but it had more depth and substance than many of the favorite blogs I read in my RSS reader.

Leo wrote an ebook called Zen to Done which sounded suspiciously like “Getting Things Done”. So I bought the ebook.

Wow…I was blown way…it clearly was, Wicked Good*. So how does the 6 Changes method work?

It’s simple:

1. Pick 6 habits for 2010.
2. Pick 1 of the 6 habits to start with.
3. Commit as publicly as possible to creating this new habit in 2 months.
4. Break the habit into 8 baby steps, starting with a ridiculously easy step. Example: if you want to floss, the first step is just to get out a piece of floss at the same time each night.
5. Choose a trigger for your habit - something already in your routine that will immediately precede the habit. Examples: eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, showering, waking up, arriving at the office, leaving the office, getting home in the evening.
6. Do the 1st, really easy baby step for one week, right after the trigger. Post your progress publicly. (Read more.)
7. Each week, move on to a slightly harder step. You’ll want to progress faster, but don’t. You’re building a new habit. Repeat this until you’ve done 8 weeks.
8. You now have a new habit! Commit to Habit No. 2 and repeat the process.

So there it is…this is my Zen Challenge and to make it more interesting I am using the Less is More approach to serve as a catalyst for a bunch of other changes- health, finances and relationships.

Sure, this isn’t a new idea but it’s my challenge and if you want to read along or join me I would be ecstatic to have you.

Onward!

*If you were born in Maine like I was then I don’t need to explain this phrase, if not…..it simply means, “Wicked Good”.