Yesterday I downloaded a little e-book called Zen to Done by Leo Babauta. I've been following Leo's blog Zen Habits for at least a year now and I find his philosophy and advice incredibly helpful.
I've decided to adapt his system for regaining power to my own life, let's call it Tao to done.
The idea in ZTD is that you spend about a month on one of habits. The first of these is collect. Work first on establishing a good method for listing the tasks that need to be done. Carry a little notebook and then at the end of the day dump these tasks on to the to do list.
When I started this yesterday I first thought, wow I don't see how I could need to work a whole month on this habit. I mean it's just writing down stuff that needs to be done. Shouldn't I be able to do that all in one week?
But on my second day, I'm realizing all the ways that not having methods for keeping myself on track are affecting my life. And the idea of collection has expanded beyond just the list of things to do.
My body is my most important collector. Yes, it's good to have a notebook to jot down tasks and ideas. But the fundamental collector of my tasks is my body. If it's constantly battling stress, painful body memories, extra weight, poor posture, poor energy, it's inevitable that all other methods of collection will get derailed.
When I stand in the morning, I'm doing the most fundamental thing I can do, scanning my body for emotional and physical pain, being with it and releasing it. It's like starting the day with a blank page on which I can start to write a more productive algorithm.
This leads into a concern with other collectors: like is my body well supported when I write? How does my poor posture affect how long I can concentrate on a writing task.
Just now I noticed how my neck strains to read the computer because it's too low. And the space around it it too messsy and cluttered. These are collectors too.
It is good to spend a month on collection. It's like anotherer manifestation of awareness. Any habit that increases awareness is always transformative.
