BTD Thought Piece #1: Strategic Systems for Micro-Moment Mindfulness

I think that I have always had a conflict in my brain. On the one hand, we do need a plan. We need to be what William Green calls "directionally correct" – not 100% on target, but heading in the right direction, and in motion. This needs some planning and some review. And this is where the conflict starts. Because all that systematisation, all those little checklists, the endless appointments with yourself in the calendar, Matthew, doesn't that make you some sort of productivity machine, far removed from the joys of daily life, because you are always in "thinking" and "planning" mode? Well, I don't know. Or, rather, I didn't know. But I do now.

Now, I believe that the only way to have access to true, in the micro-moment mindfulness, is by taking care of all of the rest of it beforehand. So, as I walk the dogs at dawn, or sigh at the sight of a mallard lifting off the pond under castle hill, or consider hedges, or ponder the art of cobbles, or muse on the matter of pigeons… I am only able to do that because the rest has been taken care of, is packed way and will be available for me at the right time.

My regular clients know about Planning & Review. Dead simple. Every year, look back at the year gone. Ask: what went well, what went badly, what will I do differently next year? Make a note of that. Every quarter, look at the quarter gone. Ask: what went well, what went badly, what will I do differently next quarter? Make a note of that. Every month, every week, etc. etc.

I do this systematically so that, when it comes down to the time horizon of a single day, all I have to worry about is that day. One single day. In a world where everyone seems to be worrying about everything, all the time, at speed, the release from the pressure of strategic thinking (or, actually, any thinking) is, for me, the driver of the moments of joy that can only happen in micro-moment mindfulness mode.