Since the human mind cannot accurately conceive the abstraction of “TIME,” how we measure it can be customized to an individual rhythm. The Legacy Command Campaign Planner acts as a dynamic, individualized, unique measurement tool for optimizing your Relationship with Time. During the hours, minutes, and seconds of our days, it is within the context of our Activities where we engage most directly with Time. To work outside of the constraints of traditional clocks allows for a kind of “negotiation” with Time. We all have the same “24 hours” in each day. The sunrise arrives each morning at a precise time in geographic regions across the planet. Each hour, the cascade of sunlight is marked. Shadows turn from black to gold as light pours over the land. However, within this perpetual tumble of waking consciousness, some people seem to be able to achieve exponentially more than others. How can the use of Time exist on a spectrum with such extremes? Each of us has a unique, one of a kind Relationship with Time. What would happen if we treated Time as our most dear companion?
Humans have always struggled to build and maintain a healthy Relationship with Time. Seemingly practical questions such as, “How long is three months?” or “What will my top priority be in six months?” are almost entirely useless when planning our goals and visions. Similarly, they are flat-out disorienting when working on the timeline for what we consider our “Purpose.” Cognizing periods of time so far into the future is like trying to describe a color. Can you describe the color orange? Give it a try. Of course you have experienced the passage of Time before, and the color orange, but does the experience have any practical context in our reality?
Seconds tick by on our clocks. Minutes lurch forward to slowly turn a crank that creeps us past hour after hour. Clocks are simply a tracking system that help us stay in relative sync with each other.
Clocks are an extremely useful and powerful human technology. How else would we engage with the inter-reality of our world? But, if all the clocks in the world suddenly disappeared, what would a Relationship with a “tickless” Time feel like?
Throughout history, time measurement tools have been created by humans in an attempt to quantify and predict daylight. Humans have always operated and survived by the glory of our relationship to, and understanding of, the sun. Again, though, while the sun is a consistent reference for marking Time, the sun is not Time. Just as our ancestors worshipped the sun, our modern society worships the clock. How can we make better use of this tracking tool while reclaiming an ability to disconnect from it? We must embrace an individualized interface for Time.
To make demands of Time beyond three months into the future is frankly a little disrespectful to the Time Relationship. Then, Time doesn’t return our calls, Time isn’t liking our Facebook posts, and we find out through a friend that Time just isn’t that into us anymore. Let's do a little Time therapy.
Think back to where you were and what you wanted six months ago. How much of what you wanted has changed? How much of what you set out to accomplish have you successfully achieved? Regardless of your success, and regardless of the practical results of those achievements, the single most important change that occurred was YOU. Your IDENTITY changed. We all grow. And sometimes, that growth means we abandon goals or plans that no longer serve us. This is HEALTHY. People often stubbornly hold onto goals even after they are clearly not relevant to the current conditions of their lives. Time passes, and we wonder how a year has gone by. We still haven’t started that business, or finished that project, or called that friend, or taken that trip. Time requires more frequent check-ins, and short-term QT. So? How do we spend more Quality Time with Time?
DO LESS.
Shorter cycles such as a focus hours, “time chunking,” a well-planned day, and a balanced week all allow for the deep extraction of concentrated attention juice.
We can cultivate the power to do less while accomplishing more. Doing less doesn’t mean less productivity - it means doing fewer things but doing them completely.
It means instead of a list of 50 important things we need to do, we focus on 10 of them and ignore the rest. I would bet Vegas odds that half of your “important” list isn’t truly as important as you think.
To cut away some of the vines holding you down, try this exercise. Write any or all of the following affirmations FIVE times:
The needs of others are not inherently my responsibility.
My needs always come first because I am most worthy of my attention.
I will make sure my own cup is full before I can freely give to another.
I am Significant, and my needs are important.
Everyone deserves to get their needs met.
I give myself permission to say “NO.”
If I refuse someone’s request for assistance, they will find another way to get their needs met.
Maintaining healthy boundaries shows Respect for myself and others.
If someone calls me selfish, it is because they are upset that I will not comply with their agenda.
If I agree to help a person out of obligation makes my time and attention transactional.
My time and attention is not for sale unless I say it is.
When I can’t give without the expectation of reciprocation, I reconsider my intentions for giving.
This may be hard to hear, but if you have a lot of “important items” on your list, they are likely to be related to a virtuous side of you that doesn’t feel worthy unless you are coming through for other people. Everything has a pay off, even virtue. These virtuous items can also be your own demands you have created for yourself. Before tackling any “important” items, begin with URGENT items. What task absolutely needs to be done RIGHT NOW? How about a list of what needs to ABSOLUTELY be done THIS WEEK? ABSOLUTELY?
Support for making these decisions exists in the Campaign Planner. The daily strategy tool is called the “Charge Crystal Map” and it can help guide you toward a practice of day-building. Start the day with 10-15 minutes of strategy and I promise your Relationship with Time will grow very intimate, very quickly. The Planner also has a “Zone Map” which is for navigating each week; seven days. Each Campaign of 28 days has four Zones of seven days, with additional Charge Crystal Maps to break the days down strategically. This is where our work happens in Legacy Command. From the very beginning, we are choosing what will be part of the current 28 day Campaign. We are also choosing what will be part of future Campaigns, only, we will not be working on them. Fact: The future is not now. We can only act in the present. Recover from whatever you feel you missed out on, or lost in the past.
Pay the toll with Forgiveness, if nothing else works. Forgive yourself and others until you have nothing left to prove. You are under no obligation to prove anything to anyone. Let go, move on, and focus intently on the 28 days that exist before you, exclusively.
With this Campaign-based strategy in place, Activities are cumulative, and accomplishment is spontaneous. What ends up happening is more of a casual achievement rhythm where you may not have even noticed you reached your goal had it not been for the Planner telling you that you did. And of course, as you reach these achievements, you will collect Charge Crystals to power your Champions, building your deck for the Prism Battles at the end of each Zone.
We generally feel we have a grip on periods of time, but what does that mean? How do we maintain a Relationship with something so abstract as Time? We generally just don’t. The most commonly used methods we prefer are watches, wall calendars, digital calendars, reminders on our phones, and the classic datebook. All of these help us stay on track. But, they only do part of the job. The rest of our fall through Time is a bit like swimming while trying to juggle bowling balls. We are generally in no position to be committing to new projects, starting new hobbies, setting goals that require new habits, or even making serious plans about anything. But we do it anyway, and hope for the best.
building a consistently fulfilling life isn’t about a forced effort to control everything.
However, order is different than control. Organization is a superpower, and we activate it with another superpower: Observation. The Legacy Command Campaign Planner begins with Observation of what we are already doing in our lives. With a little up-front measurement using the High-Speed Initializer Imprint, we can get a clear sense of where our Time and attention is going. Armed with these measurements, the Planner helps separate our Activities into contextual levels of a priority spectrum.
I recently had an influx of new projects in my own life. Between work, PhD program preparation, and Legacy Command development, my Time has been fully committed. However, work has grown a bit heavier in August (I work in Higher Education), and preparing LC for printed prototypes has added a lot of logistical legwork around the next steps of the game development. Beyond that, my school recently did an article on me that was circulated globally. I have been receiving emails about my PhD plans, and my senior project. As exciting as it was to be moving so definitely in the direction of my dreams, I was feeling acutely overwhelmed. I had been using Legacy Command long enough that my natural impulse was to turn to the Planner documents. First, I brainstormed in “The Capacitor,” then I loaded the most pressing items with the most energy into “The Regulator,” and finally, I moved what remained in The Capacitor to “The Battery” for long-term storage. These Observation and Organization steps can be done on any day. I decided to spend some time on a Saturday getting my priorities in order. After my little session, I felt unburdened and clear, so I went for a hike to let the new priorities settle into my consciousness. I felt a sense of great gratitude for the tool that I had created.
Life is a manual process of juggling existing commitments with NEW incoming commitments - in real-time. The Legacy Command Campaign Planner is a tool for parting the clouds of our intellect to see the open skies of our life. It is only when we can see with great clarity that we can navigate to great destinations.
Looking forward to the day when I can share this tool with anyone who needs it.
Stay Magical,
SOVRRN
