PhotoCredit: Quentin Gréban
A couple of years ago I re-discovered Lego. I had been buying sets for my niece and nephew and found it extremely meditative. Calm would ensue as we sat at the table, "read" the instructions, found the needed piece and positioned it as directed.
My main role was sticker-stickering. Little fingers struggled with manipulating the tiny stickers onto the tiny bricks. I might note, it's not without complication for big fingers.
Brick By Brick the 3D promise is revealed. Behold a VW Camper Van; Firehouse, Hospital; and SpaceShuttle.
Lego is an exceptional metaphor for many aspects of life. The obvious overtone of building is applicable to many work and life contexts. Less obvious is the sequence of micro-steps that lead to exceptional creations. The latter is especially interesting. Farnam Street speaks about the power of compounding results from small actions. James Clear has built a majestic writing career off the back of the concept of Atomic Habits; tiny steps that lead to outsized results.
Over the weekend I was equally inspired by this Observer Effect interview with Marc Andreessen on his lego-like calendar. I had previously attempted this approach to blocking out my life and dismissed it. It felt obsessive and lacking in spontaneity. Revisiting it, I realize it solves a few problems I hadn't appreciated at the time. It elegantly enables the programming of lego-blocks of time into one's day that ladder up to big areas of focus. It also actively plans for other parts of his life that might otherwise get overlooked or deprioritized in a busy day/week. Gym, Sleep!, Reading, and Admin.
I also really liked Andreessen's comment that he regularly steps back from this to make sure he is appropriately managing his time, priorities and commitments.
There is a lot I could unpack from the interview. I strongly encourage you read the Observer interview but I will also leave you with a couple of key takeaways/thoughts/challenges. First, think about what the focus of each day of the week is for you. Note Andreessen has a couple of internal/planning days a week (Monday and Friday) and reserves the rest of the week for more direct, external, work with his portfolio. Do you have a cadence or operating rhythm that structures your week?
Second, look back on the I AM statements you wrote. Do you have dedicated time/building blocks in the week to support you in those areas? You can do the exact same thing for your business goals too. Andreessen has an elaborate system for keeping on top of his projects which I plan to experiment with. What could you experiment with? Give something new a try to take control of your schedule. There are three weeks left in February, it's an excellent month for testing out a new system. Block by Block.