The Blockenhower Flow

You've never heard of The Blockenhower Flow?

Seriously?

Alright...alright...here's the deal. After several years of helping creatives put together simple systems for creative habits, I've landed on a handful of interconnected tools that build into, onto, and through one another.

Grab a free downloadable tool HERE. Here's the premise - and let me just say that in one form or another, this little ditty (or series of ditties) has helped shaped the game for many an artist.

The Blockenhower Flow:

1. Block: You know it. The old block schedule. This is the foundation of the building you'll be constructing. It's the structure by which all other planning will be engaged upon. Vaguely familiar? Punch Block Scheduling into YouTube and choose your own adventure.

2. Matrix: Not the series. Look, creatives plan. And we plan with the help of sweet and simple tools like the classic Eisenhower Matrix. Important & Urgent baby! At the start of every week, take stock of your projects, run them through this matrix, then plug them into your block for the week.

3. List: The old school daily planner. You know what? Still works. Only now, this little daily list of unexpected tasks, opportunities, meetings, challenges, etc. is worked into the plan you put together ahead of time, leaving room for these surprises. That's right, your block schedule was prepared. Go figure.

Put all three together in a workable form and shape your own Blockenhower Flow.

Procrastination Junkie

I have a love/hate relationship with procrastination. I hate it, but it loves me. Well, maybe I like it a little, sometimes, in the right circumstances. But in general, left uncapped, it's the reason New Year Resolutions have been outlawed in my home.

There's a great TED on procrastination and you should definitely give it a watch, connect some dots, and enter the wilds appropriately. But even this TED, as with most TEDs, despite its brilliance, only instigates the soul-searching journey into the subject matter. It doesn't solve it.

That said, let me toss out a few things to ponder as you wrestle the panic monster alongside the lying, cheating professional thief monkey.

1. Are you procrastinating in all areas of life: work, marriage, creative pursuits, parenting, education, health, faith, etc.? Or just one in particular?

2. Have you experienced measurable failure or loss due to procrastination? If so, how has it impacted your planning since? If not, what do you want to shift in order to avoid the inevitable?

3. What percentage of headspace is left in the fog due to the endless pushing off of life? Are you even aware anymore that your thinking is cloudy?!

4. What simple step can you do today, right now, to put one project, one goal, into a planned and actionable rhythm until it's completed?

Here's a tip: Choose one area of life to make sense of and schedule bite-size chunks of action. Choose something that's important and urgent enough to chase after, but not so important that a new system of preparation derails you. Take a baby step. It's okay. You can do it!

Observations from a Game Night

1. If you're going to play, expect the unexpected. My 10-year-old daughter wins more often than would be allowed in a socialist paradise.

2. Losing well never goes out of style. Don't rob yourself or others of the joy of the adventure by losing control. Practice losing well.

3. Take the lead with humility. Going on to win is totally cool. When we play well through the highs and lows, and then end well, we win well. Fist bump, then clean up like a servant-leader.

Oh yeah, the same holds true after a show, a reading, a proposal, a meeting, etc.