[CTQ Smartcast LIVE] A Brief Session on Time
In March 2020, 48 of CTQ friends got the opportunity to read about ‘compounding time’ in the R3 Compound (read and refelct for future relevance). 15 of us got together to discuss it for 30 minutes via Zoom. (The R3 Compound is now the Choose To Thinq Compound on Telegram. Click here to join)
What is compound time?
Compound time, like compound interest, is a small investment now that yields surprisingly large returns over time. In our ‘busyness’ and quest for instant gratification, we miss out on building habits that would have needed just a little investment of time every day but enormous benefits years later.
The article explained some things which have such a compounding effect:
Reading. Ben Franklin once said: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Books offer the best RoI. Warren Buffet reads 500 pages everyday and probably the source of Buffett’s true wealth is not just the compounding of his money, but the compounding of his knowledge, which has allowed him to make better decisions.
We also had fantastic insights on this from our participants. Most of them are active readers, some working on building it as a habit, and others for whom it already is one. Aniket and Manas spoke about how they built a consistent reading habit by being part of the CTQ Reading Compound.
Napping / Resting / allowing Downtime. Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison had one thing in common: they took naps. Science proves naps builds creativity and clear thinking. Trilok shared an interesting example of cricketer VVS Laxman who would take a shower or nap before he went out to bat, something that contributed to his big innings. Manas and Trilok also recommended the Coursera course ‘Learning How To Learn’, which focuses on active thinking vs diffused thinking. There are times in which we stay focused and times in which we allow the mind to wander. This unfocused, or diffused, mode is just as valuable as the focused mode in allowing our brain to LEARN something. So — taking breaks, meditating, thinking about other things, and giving our minds plenty of time in both modes is extremely essential. Sangeetha, a homeschooling mom also spoke about how naps help her in chunking the day into more productive units and how it helps to keep the monkey chatter at bay.
Exercising / Walking/ Running / Cycling - Charles Darwin, Beethoven, Gandhi, Steve Jobs, all exalted walking. Some of the best ideas come during that time. Aditya mentioned how walking also can help you to take your mind off things. Almost everyone in the group vouched for the compounding effect these activities have and how exercising helps in reflecting and thinking clearly.
Daily Journaling / writing - While legends like Oprah, Peter Drucker, Reid Hoffman all talk about the importance of journaling and maintaining a gratitude journal, some of us realised we have never tried it enough. Something to ponder on.
A few interesting ideas also got churned up. One, the importance of having conversational partners, and the compounding effects of creativity when done as a group. Aditya shared an interesting habit he has developed over the past year: studying chess theories. He spends 10-15 minutes each day reading different games. This lets him clear his head and go back to work with a fresh perspective possibly because chess has nothing to do with his day job!
Some of us acknowledged that we slip on the habits we wish to cultivate and then shared a few hacks with each other. We also discussed briefly some of the best books in this space: two being Atomic Habits and The Power of Habit.
At the end of the session, most of us realized that in a world where everyone is speeding up and cramming their schedule to get ahead, we should probably slow down, work less, learn more, and think for the future.
Interested in joining in the fun today for a better tomorrow? Start here by joining our free Telegram channel!