In the game of life there are two types of players:

There are those who feel like life is passing them by, each day the same, a program executed by someone else and they're just a Sim living through it.

Then there are those who Speedrun life as if the goal is to finish it as fast as possible, trading joy in the moment for a future version of themselves that may not ever arrive.

For both, time flies by, accelerating with each year.

But there is a middle path, one in which you feel in control of your time and capable of being present. To uncover this middle way, all you need is a few minutes a day, a notebook, and a pen.

Today, I'll share three journaling practices that will help you slow down time and free your focus from the constant pull of distractions.

I've been journaling daily for well over a year now and have experienced massive improvements in my ability to be present, organize my life, understand my mistakes, and plan for my future. I rarely waste time on my phone anymore and I feel more capable of achieving my goals than I ever have in my life. But this wasn't always the case.

I've lived at both ends of the extreme.

For years I lived life like I was a Sim:

• Wake up
• Go to work
• Play video games
• Scroll social media
• Have a couple of drinks
• Watch tv
• Go to bed
• Repeat.

Like an automaton, I mindlessly wandered through life, watching the years go by as if I were watching my own life through another screen. Like most people who turn 30, I was hit with the reality that all the time I thought was ahead of me was starting to shrink.

I had been asleep at the wheel, giving away my attention in exchange for cheap pleasures.

As the pendulum swings–I became frantic about "making up" for lost time.

My new obsession was to find the shortcuts to productivity–digital notetaking apps, project management software, automation sequences–a never-ending search for the ultimate system to make getting things done as simple as clicking a button.

Because that's what we're sold, right?

• Easier
• Faster
• Simpler
• Cheaper

The promise of technology is to reduce the friction so low that we never have to struggle again.

So, I filled every second of my time with activity to prove I wasn't a Sim anymore, never pausing to think about where it was all leading. A spare minute here would be spent optimizing my systems, and a spare minute there learning how to use the next piece of software that promised me I'd get my time back.

Napoleon once said, "You may lose battles but never lose a minute to sloth."

If I just stayed busy all the time, surely I would win the war on my time.

Of course, this was just shifting the problem.

Instead of giving all my focus and attention away to social media, I was now sacrificing it at the altar of productivity.

Time felt like it was flying by even faster, the very thing I was trying to avoid.

But things changed when I decided to stop in a bookstore for a few minutes before clocking into work.

While looking around, a leatherbound notebook caught my eye and I thought to myself, "Who even has time to write in a journal?!" But if I didn't have the time now, when would I? Was it only future me who could spare 30 minutes to reflect on his thoughts or would I be filling every second of my day with activity for the rest of my life?

Actually, why am I so busy?

What am I rushing toward?

And why do I feel like I have less time than ever?

I bought that notebook and it sat on my desk untouched for months–I still wasn't convinced I had time for it. A much needed vacation finally gave me the space to write in it.

After one journaling session, I realized the answer I was seeking: to slow down time, I had to slow down.

You can't think if you never stop and...think.

I once heard author Cal Newport describe solitude as "freedom from inputs from other minds."

Solitude is what is missing from most people's lives that would immediately save them from countless hours of wasted time.

The Sims of the world freely give away their mental real estate to everyone else:

• work
• social media
• television
• video games
• the news
• the dramas of the day

And because they give it away, it feels like life happened and they weren't there to experience it.

The speedrunners give up the present in exchange for the future, a gamble that doesn't always pay off.

To them, solitude and time spent journaling would be seen as a massive waste of time, the act of handwriting in a notebook unbearably inefficient.

Why not just listen to audiobooks at 3x speed, voice dictate your thoughts into your phone, and have AI summarize how you're feeling? Surely that's the key to reclaiming your time, right?

In Stillness is the Key Ryan Holiday wrote, "(Journaling) is a few minutes of reflection that both demands and creates stillness. It's a break from the world. A framework for the day ahead. A coping mechanism for troubles of the hours just past. A revving up of your creative juices, for relaxing and clearing."

Journaling by hand, in a physical notebook, slows us down and creates the space required to be intentional with our lives, present in the moment, and focused on the right things, right now.

Method 1: Get Organized - Time-Boxing

Most people aren't aware of where all their time is actually going and this allows them to confidently proclaim that they don't have any to spare.

But the data on phone usage tells a different story.

On average, people spend about 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phones each day, which is the equivalent of 70 days a year.

It's no wonder people feel like life is passing them by–they're spending two months a year staring into a phone screen, not to mention the other screens we're so fond of being entertained by.

Clearly, it's not time that is lacking.

(I'm aware of the irony that I'm sharing the dangers of screen use with you through a screen, but I genuinely care about this problem. The lives of so many people I know would be exponentially improved if they just found other uses of their time rather than rely on their phones as constant companions to relieve them of discomfort.)

Now, in my hunt for the perfect system, I did come across one technique that's incredibly effective at getting a grasp on your allocation of attention.

It's a technique called time-boxing or time-blocking.

Get out a piece of paper, or your notebook. (technically you can use a calendar app but come on...just try analog for a minute)

1. Draw a vertical column and break it up into 1-hour blocks with a time stamp next to it. (I list mine from 6 am to 10 pm to exclude sleeping hours.)
2. Block out the hours where you have real obligations. Things like work, appointments, meetings, social commitments, etc.
3. The remaining empty boxes are all of your free time to allocate accordingly.

Unless you're a hyper-optimizer, there should be plenty of free time to schedule activities of solitude such as journaling, walking, and even exercising.

If you find this journaling method effective then make it a weekly routine to map out your week and reclaim autonomy over your time.

But the purpose of this exercise is to simply face the reality of your situation so you can become more intentional about where you spend your time.

You can use time boxing to gain some clarity about where you're time is going but there is a certain type of person who runs the risk of taking it to the extreme. Avoid the trap of scheduling every minute of your day because no matter how perfect your plan is on paper, life has a way of humbling those who think they can always control it.

So what if you do this exercise and you actually don't have any spare time?

Productivity pioneer David Allen once said, "You can do anything, but not everything."

If you want to slow down time and become more present that's going to require you to let go of some things. Being so busy you can't spare 30 minutes to yourself is a fast track to burnout and misery.

For this person, the need for space to think is more important than the need to stay busy.

Method 2: Replace Distractions - Pocket Notebooks

Time spent looking at a phone is one issue but another problem is how incessantly we check them for notifications.

According to one survey, the average American checks their phone 144 times per day. I see statistics like these and can't help but think about life before we became so dependent on digital devices.

Unfortunately, this problem only seems to be getting worse and tech companies are getting better at convincing us that doing so will make us happier, more productive, and free from the constraints of the analog world.

What's worse is a large portion of the population believes journaling is a waste of time, a thing of the past, or a luxury for people who don't have real responsibilities.

While aboard the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin wrote to his sister, "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life."

But for someone who valued his time so highly, Darwin wasn't opposed to spending a large portion of his writing in his notebooks.

During the course of his 5 years sailing around the world, he filled around 15 pocket notebooks that he used in the field to catalog his observations. They contained everything from sketches to habitat information, to personal questions about what he was experiencing.

Instead of a phone always at his side to lose himself in, he had his pocket notebooks to pour over. Clearly, his prolific output and Theory of Evolution prove there is value to be found in thinking on paper.

While times have changed and there's no going back to an era before cell phones, we can still use this method to cut back on our time lost to distractions.

Like Darwin, I carry a pocket notebook with me at all times. Inside it, I write down quotes, ideas, and definitions I come across that I want to remember. This gives me a healthy alternative to replace the constant phone checking.

It takes a while to get used to, but over time the phone gets checked less, and the ideas you want to internalize get reflected on more.

I can't recommend pocket notebooks enough, they've saved me from my impulse toward distraction more times than I can count.

Seriously, these notebooks are a game-changer for those of you who are struggling with phone usage.

They're cheap, effective, and easy to carry–perfect for replacing the bad habit of "checking in."

Method 3: The Scenic Route - Daily Meditations

Everyone knows the cliche, "It's not the destination that matters but the journey along the way" and yet, we constantly fail to live like it's true.

People use AI and sentence-finishing software to speed up the writing process as if having written something is more important than the process of writing itself.

They rush through journaling sessions on their phone app just to check the box off their to-do list rather than slow down and appreciate the space journaling creates.

Why learn to draw if AI can do it for you?

Why study history if you can just Google the answers when you need them?

Why bother taking notes by hand when you can copy and paste them into an app?

We are obsessed with outcomes and are constantly trying to shortcut the process. But the process is the reward, it's the very thing that slows down time and brings you into the present.

Life is lived in the moment and there are no shortcuts to now–you're already living it.

The reason time feels like it's flying by is because of this obsession to finish one thing and move on to the next.

Try enjoying the scenic route and see how much peace it can bring.

I have a notebook dedicated to daily journal entries where the whole point is to take my time and get comfortable with solitude.

I take 5 - 10 minutes to carefully outline the margins, draw up the lines, and create a grid for each page. I try not to rush this, going slow is the point. It allows me to think for a few moments before I start writing. After the entry, I take a few minutes to draw a visual representation, something I'm terrible at. But that's why I do it. It slows me down and signals that there is more to life than just getting things done.

Try it out for yourself and see how it feels.

Avoid the tendency to rush through the process to reach an outcome and enjoy the sense of stillness that comes with it.

Train yourself to slow down and watch time slow down with you.

I'm currently reading The Daily Laws for the topics I reflect on in this notebook. In it, Robert Green wrote, "The time that you are alive is the only real possession that you have."

Slow down, and make that time your own.

{If you want 26 free journaling prompts to get started, you can grab The ABCs of Journaling here.}

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