Being intentional with how you use your time
Spring finally arrives in the PacNW, time blocks, #BestValueSun☀, where we've been and where we're going next
Welcome to this week’s issue. I’m glad you’re here.
Spring finally arrived this week. The tulips are finally opening. Last night, it genuinely felt warm for the first time.
First light
I woke up a bit after five this morning. The world was quiet. We slept with the windows open for the first time this year. Gradually, it began to get lighter. The birds began to chirp, quietly at first. Later the doves joined in. At one point a human-made sound interrupted the tranquil natural symphony. Was someone really starting to mow their lawn this early? Or was it a plane passing by overhead? Or a vehicle nearby? I wasn’t really sure except to know that it was disruptive and I was grateful when it passed.
I love mornings. As a kid, I’m not sure I would have ever said that. We used to have family breakfasts on Saturday mornings and I definitely wasn’t the first one to the kitchen. In college, I remember breakfast at the dining hall my freshman year didn’t even open until 11am on weekends — and sometimes we would be even later than that. I laugh thinking back on that. For most of my life, when pressed to pick, I was more on Team Late Night than Team Early Morning.
I’m not sure when it changed — or even if it truly has. What I do know is that I love the promise and potential that each new day brings.
Being intentional
So long as we shall live, each day — yours, mine, and everyone else’s — has the same amount of time: 24 hours. Yet, some of us are able to achieve more, accomplish more and pack more life into this same amount of time. Why is that?
Some years ago (when I was at what would turn out to be an inflection point in my own life), my sister shared a simple framework that has stayed with me ever since. Here it is:
Each of us has 24 hours in a day. Think of these as blocks. We start each day with 24 blocks.
If you sleep eight hours a night (8 blocks), then you have 16 blocks to allocate when you wake up. How will you spend them?
If you work for eight hours, you still have eight blocks left. How do you spend these eight blocks currently?
If you’re like me, you may be thinking, hang on, I don’t have eight hours of free time every day! That’s true — you probably don’t. I don’t either. Some of these blocks get spent getting ready, cooking, eating, commuting and other realities of daily life. Maybe you end up with one or two blocks left to use as you please.
The point here isn’t to judge but to increase awareness. Maybe you love your life exactly as it is. If so, congratulations! You’ve achieved your ideal schedule. For the rest of us, this can be a powerful way to look at our daily lives from a fresh perspective.
One of the things that became immediately obvious was this: it’s all about tradeoffs and intentional choices. Another hour at the office is an hour less at home. Intuitively we know this, but really explicitly thinking about the tradeoffs can be helpful.
Consider auditing your schedule for a week. You might be surprised to discover how you are actually spending some of your time currently. How many blocks are you spending on social media?1 TV?2
How might you like to spend your 24 blocks?
I encourage you to start with 24 blocks and be intentional as you allocate them. Time is a finite resource and I’ve found this framework to be a helpful reminder. If you try it, I would love to hear your experience!
#BestValueSun ☀
Have you ever wondered where you can get the most sunny days for the lowest cost of living? Recently, a post on LinkedIn made me curious and so I did a quick bit of analysis, which I’m sharing with you here. (This is what happens when you’re solar-powered, it was still raining and hailing in the Pacific Northwest, and someone posts a picture of their sunny life in Southern California and acknowledges it’s an expensive place to call home but worth it for the lifestyle.)
I plotted the top 14 US markets from the ULI Emerging Trends 2023 along with major US west coast markets. The metric I devised was a simple ratio of the number of sunny days per year in a given community to its relative cost of living index. Here you go:
Meta
This marks the fourth month of Bryce’s Blog on Substack and I want to pause and say thank you to each and every one of you who has joined us so far. Bryce’s Blog is now read in a quarter of the United States and eight countries. I am so grateful for your interest, engagement, and support.
100% of our subscriber growth continues to be organic. If you enjoy Bryce’s Blog and know someone else you think would appreciate it, too, please consider spreading the word — and thank you!
This month we have been focused on perspective:
What’s coming up?
Next month, we’re going practical. We are going to do a mini-series on productivity:
GTD
To Do
Media Embed: 💿U2
Last month, I mentioned that my brother had texted me about going to see U2 in Vegas this fall. We’re going! ✈ It will be his first time seeing them live. It’s going to be awesome! Here’s what Rolling Stone says. If you’re interested, they have added a few more shows into November, but don’t delay.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Bryce
From a fellow PNWer, it's been a pleasure to luxuriate in the sun this weekend. Now - to spend time in it! Thanks for another great post, Bryce.