ACTIVITY: schedule 3R
There are enormous gaps between intention and action and between flashes of insight and real personal growth. The 3R approach can close those gaps – but only if you do it. And the most common reason that people fail to do it is, they simply forget.
I suggest setting recurring tasks in your calendar. On the right, you can see my default daily schedule with the reminder for my productivity ritual (what I do to get myself into the most productive mindset – covered in the Productivity program). Each morning, my phone pings at 08.30 to remind me to go through the ritual (which isn’t quite as mystical as it sounds; no joss sticks burning in the background). In a week or so, once the habit is established, I will remove the reminder.
When creating your reminders, don’t forget to add the weekly reviews.
3R Prompts
Your sessions will become much more sophisticated as you work through this program – and, of course, as you begin to identify your own triggers and thought patterns. However, at this early stage, you may like a few prompts for your 3R sessions. As you look back over your day, try to recall when you:
- felt emotion: anger, frustration, happiness …
- were most productive
- felt anxious or stressed
- procrastinated
- reacted too quickly or too slowly to events
Then, for each of these, try to remember the context, your thought patterns before and after, the duration of your emotions. Ask yourself this critical question:
If I could live today all over again, what would I do differently?
Don’t mark this topic as Complete until you have set your 3R reminders and undertaken at least 5 sessions.