Week 1 - Collage Journaling and (Re)Setting
Circle Discussion Topics:
Introductions. What brought you here?
The origins of Omba
The importance of journaling
The importance of sleep (and tracking it)
Other potential things to track (habits that you want to change or other data):
hours of sleep
screen time
shopping behaviors
social media usage
Sierpinski’s Triangle
“Single Task Focus”
Periodization Journaling
Sierpinski Triangle
This concept is from the book for musicians, “The Practice of Practice” by Jonathan Harnum, pages 50-55 in particular.
“The Goldilocks Zone is a place where everything is just right… Setting goals ‘just right’ is one of the most powerful and motivating techniques expert practicers use to get the most out of a practice session, even if you only have two minutes of practice time a day...Goals come in many shapes and sizes. They’re like fractals. At the largest scale, there is a pattern, and as you dive in and look more and more closely at goals, they reflect that larger pattern, even at the microscopic level… We know about long- and short-term goals. But goals can be even smaller, especially if you look at a single practice session…
Ultimate goals are your fantasies and are waaaay outside of the Goldilocks Zone… Ultimate goals are important, and they’re not only worth thinking about, they’re a lot of fun to imagine. Ultimate goals provide inspiration and motivation… In the Sierpinski Triangle, notice that as you get closer to the present moment, the size of the goal diminishes and the goals multiply like rabbits on Viagra. This makes sense if you consider how many short-term goals it takes to reach an ultimate goal… Your course of action should be easier to see at this level of goals. Now you can wrap your mind around what you need to do for a single practice session…”
Omba Note: The main reason I want my kids to take piano lessons is because music teaches a child how to see a complex problem (ex. a music piece that is 4 pages long) and break it down until it isn’t overwhelming. If 4 pages is too overwhelming then focus on just the first page. If the first page is still overwhelming then focus on the first line; the first measure… Referring to this method of learning as a metaphor is helpful when they face other complicated problems in their lives.
Single Task Focus - “Do only one thing at a time.”
This concept is from the book, “Peak Performance” by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, pages 56-60 in particular:
“We love multitasking because when we do multiple things at once, we feel more productive and experience greater emotional satisfaction. An internal voice in our subconscious mind says, ‘Look at everything I am accomplishing. Look at all of the things I am checking off my list.’ In a society that encourages and rewards ‘optimization’ and ‘multiple processes’ we can’t help but ‘optimize’ ourselves… Even in individuals who claim to be great multitaskers, fMRI scans of the brain reveal that it is impossible to do two things at once with a high level of quality. When we multitask, our brains either constantly switch between tasks or they divide and conquer, allotting only a portion of our cognitive capacity to a specific task. As a result, as countless studies show, the quality and, ironically, even the quantity of our work suffers when we are multitasking.”
I love my phone too!
To carve out a significant amount of time to focus on one thing (a presentation, writing a poem, baking a pie, playing with your toddler), try a few of these suggestions for setting up some boundaries with your phone:
Turn off or modify the sight/sound notifications of all (or most) of your apps on your phone.
Place your phone in another room. If you can’t turn off your phone, and you need to hear the phone ring because you’re expecting a call back from the doctor, try placing your phone in another room.
“Chunkify” your texting. If you are a social texter and you immediately stop what you’re doing to reply to a text, try setting up blocks of time dedicated to texting. Example: The first 10 minutes of the hour, OR an even more dedicated time frame: 8AM, 1PM, 5:30, 8PM
Track your data. Sometimes, tracking the data helps with changing habits. For one week try to track the amount of time between when you wake up and when you reach for your phone. Or when you put your phone away and when you fall asleep. This will make you realize just how much we love the constant companionship of our phones.
Reframe your relationship! To be honest, I love my phone as if it were my 4th child. I miss it when it’s not near me, and I panic when I can’t find it for more than 15 minutes. By reframing the relationship we can set some natural boundaries:
Would you let your kid constantly interrupt when you’re trying to meet a deadline on a presentation? Try turning off your phone for 30 minutes or put your phone in another room.
Do you put your kid to bed with a routine each night? You can put your phone to bed too with a routine. Try “tucking it in” across the room and say goodnight to it until the morning.
Periodization Exercise
Do you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Or do you feel like there’s never enough time for you to focus and balance everything on your plate? The Periodization Exercise might be beneficial for you to try. Here's a set of photos showing you the process of one of my own periodization schedules. I participate in the exercise every time there is a major transition for our family (e.g. the kids going back to school versus summer vacation). To be clear, this is the *ideal* scenario of a single day, and I follow it as a guide more than a rule book. (i.e. BE GENTLE towards yourself while trying something new). The guide is helpful when you’re trying to figure out how to fit something personal in, but you’re unsure how to prioritize it enough to make it happen. It’s also helpful in recognizing the times of great cognitive focus. You can see more photos HERE.
The answers to the following questions will guide the set up of your periodization schedule. Remember that the exercise is flexible, and the underlying intention for the periodization exercise is to carve out YOU time, and to plan for periods of “single task focus” and “rest and recovery.” Use post-it-notes to move around tasks (and to subconsciously underline that this exercise IS adjustable).
Are you a lark or a night owl? Do you prefer to wake up early or go to bed late?
What are your ideal but realistic awake and bedtimes? (Remember discussion about the prioritization of sleep)
When do you have the MOST energy? When do you usually have a “second wind” of energy?
These times can be early in the morning. They can sometimes be right before or after lunch or late at night. These energy levels are totally based on YOUR energy levels (after a good night of sleep) and not based on external needs.
Make a note of when you have daily or weekly tasks where someone else is dependent on you (example: my kids’ piano lessons).
Make a note of ideal but realistic meal times for breakfast/lunch/dinner.
For the period of time when you have the most energy, is there a block of time you can use for tasks that are HIGH priority with the need for QUICK turnarounds? (Example: a specific commitment to your boss, or “Back to school” forms for your kids)
For the period of when you have a second wind of energy, is there a block of time you can use for tasks that are HIGH priority and fulfill long term needs? (Example: Self-Care, Intentional Movement, journaling, working on a business idea, etc.)
Make a note of transition times to allow for grace. (Example: 30 minutes before sleep)
Is there any other time available to schedule intentional movement, meditation, social connections?
If you feel overwhelmed that there aren’t enough hours in the day expand the time to view it from the lens of a work week. Example: My kids’ piano lesson isn’t everyday; yoga is only once a week, etc... Learn how you can maximize efficiency in your day. For example: Go for a walk with a friend for both intentional movement and social interaction. Discuss decisions with your partner during a coffee break. Schedule a meal with friends, etc.
Omba Workshop Week 1 Recap
Here are some links that I wanted to share with you to recap our discussion:
Feel free to try and track something (sleep, screen time, your moods, etc), and use your collage journal to try it out. Here's a 13 minute listen on why journaling is so very good for you: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/11/875054593/not-sure-what-youre-feeling-journaling-can-help
Here's a link to a set of 6 photos showing you the process of my own personal periodization schedule for the summer. Again, this is the *ideal* scenario, and I follow it as a guide more than a rule book. (i.e. Be gentle towards yourself while trying something new)
Here's the 38 minute podcast about sleep. I highly recommend it! https://www.npr.org/2018/07/20/630792401/sleep-scientist-warns-against-walking-through-life-in-an-underslept-state
Lastly, (again) you don't need to spend a lot of time and every single day to journal. This is a gift of time for yourself. Even 2 minutes to write down a partial thought, cut a single cool-looking letter from a magazine, tear an interesting background design from the newspaper... all of these small things are like the nano-goals of the Sierpinski Triangle: https://thepracticeofpractice.com/2014/09/21/the-fractal-nature-of-goals-and-music-practice/
See you next week, Melissa