As I write this snippet, my mini vacation with the family to a beach getaway, on the Northeast coast of Brazil—a beach town in the vicinity of Icapuí—is coming to a close. One of the things we always try and squeeze in, is a beach buggy ride. On a few-hour trip you get to see and do so many things.
We head out to a specific destination along a programmed itinerary… and dotted along the way we encounter sights and activities: we weave in and out of the contours of the beach, and at times temporarily leave the water's edge to climb and descend towering sand dunes. Photos are taken at lookout points… there's a boat trip to do some snorkeling before continuing… we pass through scenic beach towns, each with their own history… wind our way through wind farms with scores of colossal wind turbines. There are stops to drink coconut water and several other curiosities such as sculptures carved out of sandstone cliffs.
Midway through the trip one arrives at the main destination… the top of a series of sand dunes, where a crowd of tourists have gathered to watch the sunset. There's more photos… along with time for a lot of contemplation – among a collection of miniscule people embedded in a stark, imposing landscape.
As dusk ushers in a darkening world, we make our way back to the beach house along the same stretch of beach, the buggy engine humming over the breaking of the waves and the rushing wind. There's more contemplation as the buggy brings us back by starlight and gasoline.
The thought occurs to me that I likely have a dozen or more emails and other such admin awaiting me. I also remember that my timeline will take care of the mix of responsibilities, events, admin, challenges and worries that await me in the days and weeks ahead. I steer my mind back to the wind and the waves and my loved ones in the same buggy. I squeeze as much as I can out of the moment. I take in the smell of the seaweed on the salty breeze. I pay attention to all of my senses – including the subtle burn of more sun than I usually get.
There are two things I wanted to convey here:
Responsibilities and everything that life requires of us never stop… but we can set a time and a place for it all, and fully immerse ourselves in the moment. We can be fully present and in the moment when we need to be – because we know that nothing will escape us. We can trust our system. Nothing we've got in our system is going to sneak up on us and accelerate our heartrate with an anxiety attack or drive us to worry prematurely about the events of the days ahead. We get to rest easy and live and love a little more. We get to stretch out the living of life a little more.
I also wanted to illustrate the mechanics of any typical day or week: along the timeline of life we encounter it all: events, projects, activities, tasks, reminders, reflections. They're all dotted along the path ahead – and we see them at the next logical, reasonable or opportune time. There's so more that can (and should) fit into our timeline than we might at first anticipate – including items we wouldn't typically see as actionable, but really are some of the most practical things to embed into our life's rhythms and routines.
If we can get our digital timeline to approximate the actual timeline that we live, we'll realize that the activities we engage in most definitely include time for reflection, thinking, planning, worrying… and more of the abstract things that are no less practical than the outwardly observable activities.
In the following chapters, we're going to take a look at the variety of items that can (and should) go into your timeline.
Events →Workflowy is a minimalist note taking app that helps you organize your life. Simple enough to hold your grocery list, powerful enough to hold your entire life.
by Frank Degenaar