Insight from the book: Time Warrior, by Steve Chandler.
Time to read: 3:52 minutes
As a Time Warrior you have one battle in life: eliminate distraction
“It’s your war against interruption and distraction. That life is yours to create. And it never just arrives, it must be created.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
A Time Warrior uses his sword to cut through distractions and carve out blocks of focus. The warrior makes time to focus on what matters.
“How do you make time? By slowing down. Paradoxically. By creating your day. By being ruthless. With great swings and swipes of your samurai sword. You develop a brutal grace. Cutting out the unnecessary” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
You will never ‘find’ time for anything, if you want time you must make it. – Charles Buxton
“Management and efficiency studies in the workplace tell us that one hour of interrupted time is worth three hours of time that is constantly interrupted.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
As a Time Warrior, you MUST declare war on:
- People pleasing
- Saying “yes” to every request that comes your way.
- Thinking without doing
- Thinking about an action without taking an action.
“A warrior takes his sword to all circumstances that don’t allow him to fully focus.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Stop People Pleasing
“I have never seen a greater time-waster then people-pleasing.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Repeat the following prayer to yourself each day: “God, spare me from the desire for appreciation and approval from others.”
“A time warrior is a peaceful warrior but a warrior still. Peaceful taking a sword to all those negative, frightening, depressing thoughts that are automatically believed… So that a great, timeless, active day can be created. A day with no time in it unless you want to make some.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Start Doing, Stop Deliberating
Our minds have the wonderful ability of simulate future action. But letting the mind chew on your next action without doing something about is a form of mental torture.
“All fear comes from picturing the future. Putting things off increases that fear. Soon we are nothing but heavy minds weighing down on weary brains. Too much future will do that. Only a warrior’s approach will solve this.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Acknowledge all internal desires and external requests for action. Advance these actions in any way possible: Write a quick note. Start a new list. Sketch a quick design, Draft a new email. Schedule a reminder. Setup a meeting.
“Once I identify the big scary imagined task as a distortion produced by my own worried mind, I want to go small, as small as possible. What can I do in the next three minutes?” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Advance your ‘imagined tasks’ with short bursts of energy. Use short swings of your sword to advance things forward and get them out of your mind for the time being.
“I am a coach by profession, and when I work with a client who is “Overwhelmed” with too much to do and not enough time to do it I will often ask him to give me an example of one of the things they are burdened by every time they think about it. The client will give me an example and we will do that thing right now. The client is amazed. The only thing missing in this client’s life was a bias for action.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
“All this time that they spend thinking and feeling they could have been taking action.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Develop a bias for action: advance things forward enough to get them off your mind.
The feeling of ‘Overwhelm’ is now your cue for Action.
What if we take the wrong action?
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Action focuses the mind. A focused mind generates enough energy to make progress and course correct if need be.
The Way of the Warrior
“A time warrior does not ask, “How do I feel?” but rather asks, “How can I help?” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Shifting your mindset into ‘warrior mode’ puts feelings aside for the time being. As a warrior you have a cause. There is a reason for doing the work and that reason is greater than how you may feel at this moment.
How can we stay true to the warrior way? Set commitments.
“Commitments are things you keep no matter what happens to make them difficult to keep. Commitments are powerful. So be very selective when using them.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
The TAKEAWAY
“Time Warriors arrange the “chaos” around them by slowing down–way, way, down–and then letting go of people-pleasing, approval-seeking and every shade of mood-based and future based thinking.” Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
What Now?
“Don’t create your year, create your day. Figure out the perfect day and then live it. The year will take care of itself. So will your life.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
Before your day begins, establish boundaries that eliminate distraction.
“As a warrior [not worrier] I will wake up and create my day based on how I prefer to serve this world.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler
The questions is: How “violent” of a swordsman will you be today?
“How much interrupted time will you carve out for yourself? Will you be a true time warrior? Because if you will you’ll love your timeless time. You’ll be amazed at what you can create when time is not an issue.” – Time Warrior by Steve Chandler