I wanted to finish the second draft of my screenplay in 2021. That didn’t happen.
Looking back, I just didn’t put in the time... Not sure where all the time went. And now it’s 2022, which, I’m pretty sure, is the future. (We’re in the future now, right?)
“Where is all the time going?” ~ Me
Time... let’s break it down - X% goes to learning new things, X% goes to family and memories, X% goes to errands, X% goes to buying and eating food, and X% goes to managing stuff. And so on and on and on and on...
After which, I don’t have much time left to write.
But maybe I’m not managing my time well. Not prioritizing properly. I should have more data. Reports and figures. Not a bunch of Xs masquerading as numbers.
Part of me (roughly 7%) is very accurate, intentional, and loves data. This part understands time, tasks, goals, habits, and reports. (The other 93% isn’t fond of him.)
However, it has become the prevailing consensus that the 7% should probably be in-charge. (as difficult as that is to admit) So here goes...
Under New Management
First things first, the newly empowered 7% sets out to capture and quantify goals, habits, projects and tasks.
And this is done in a spreadsheet (of course...) to the 93%’s dismay.
It started as a plain text spreadsheet, but the 93% was bored out of its mind, so images were added, which made it a bit better. (Pictures make goals easier to digest.)
Messaging to the 93%
Now spreadsheets are fine and dandy....(if they have pictures). But translating them into daily tasks and goals that are completed by the 93% (Squirrel, squirrel!) can be complicated.
But one thing that I know is that, in addition to pictures, the 93% likes dings and notifications. Could I harness this power and create an unholy union of a spreadsheet and dings/notifications?
“Yes, it can be done.” ~ me
I’d never used Telegram before, but with the help of Uchat (https://www.uchat.com.au ) I built a bot that tracks my goals. (Uchat is freakin amazing)
And the bot was able to turn the spreadsheet into a series of dings and dongs and messages. (93% is intrigued...)
See it in action...
It all starts with an automated Telegram message that is generated and sent at 4:00 am.
To which the groggy 93% responds:
And now, this is where the magic happens. The next ding is a message with predefined tasks, projects, and goals from 7%’s spreadsheet. (Added emojis because 93% loves em)
The first option (Represented by the “Morning Routine button🌞”) cycles through all my Habits. The second option (”Write Blog Draft ✍️”) cycles through Tasks and the third option (”Projects 🚀”) links to a Notion page for the Projects I’m to work on.
These are all populated from the corresponding page in the spreadsheet (that has pictures.)
And to ramp things up a notch, the bot checks the spreadsheet at 11:00 pm. If a habit isn’t completed, an email is sent to a friend stating that I am a loser and owe them $5.00. (Turn out that 93% hates those emails being sent out, which is great!)
After all the habits are completed for the day, a rocking GIF is sent. (They really encourage and motivate 93% to continue moving towards the 7%’s goals)
David Allen once said, if you want to do things consistently, you need to make them easy enough for a monkey to do. (Gosh, if it isn’t just like David Allen to capture everything in a sentence... Genius)
And that’s what I did -- I built a dinging, emoji laced, GIF-rich messaging bot that even a monkey could use to track habits and goals.
That’s kind of depressing... ~ me
Conclusion
Eleven days into 2022 and I haven’t missed a habit. Not one! And I have six daily habits, which is up considerably from zero. (Sorry to my friends waiting on an email stating they are $5.00 richer. )
So, here’s to a 2022 that’s intentional, has real numbers/data, six ingrained habits, a second version of a screenplay, and a cornucopia of other completed goals.
The End...
Oh wait, one last thing (Cue exciting reveal...)
This isn’t the 7% writing this article, say hello to a whole new 93% 😯😝🤩
