Nothing drives away the Time Sickness that causes panic better than a Calendar. The best kind is big enough to show everything you hope to do for the next few years all at once. And if it’s hung on the wall as a constant reminder, you might find your panic going away.
You can make it yourself right now. Just find a large sheet of paper (or tape some ordinary-sized blank sheets together) and with a colored marking pen, divide it into six large squares, one for each of the next 6 years. Why six? Because it’s good to know you have 6 whole years to play with. Anything less could worry you by making you feel hurried. Anything greater would be hard to understand. Six years seems to be just right for Scanners.
Mark the year over each square, starting with this year. Nearby, keep a cup full of wide, brightly colored ink markers. When you get a good idea, you’ll need to have these markers at hand.
Now, stand in front of that Calendar and think of every project you really long to do (not every one you can think of!). Figure out which ones you might be able to do soon and which ones can wait. Assign a different color to each activity and draw a band of that color on the Calendar in the time you hope to do it. A bright red line for next fall might represent your trip to Rome. A blue one could represent the art class you want to take.
This is a first run only and not written in stone; you’re sure to change it frequently. But you’ve got to start with something real, and a calendar is the simplest—and strongest—reminder that you will not be cheated out of doing everything you love.
Post that Calendar on your wall where you’ll see it many times a day. That’s all you have to do. And notice the surprising calm you feel when everything you love is scheduled and will wait for you.
Did you suddenly feel as if your surroundings changed? Instead of floating in space, you just planted your feet on a road with a direction, and all because of a hand-drawn Calendar.
When it comes to demolishing Scanner panic, no piece of equipment is more powerful than a Calendar on the wall that allows you to see, at a glance, the next few years.
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To get anything done, you need structure. That means schedules, timetables, and accountability. Without structure, we all become disoriented; we don’t know where we are. If you learn to set priorities and line up your projects in some kind of order, if you develop a sense of beginnings and endings, and if you keep a big, beautiful Calendar on your wall, your confusion will disappear, and taking the first step will become easy.
You can do one thing now and another later, or you can line them up and do a small part of all of them today. It’s simply a matter of taking your ideas out of the stratosphere and placing them in your daily life right next to your other activities, like breakfast, picking up the mail, walking the dog.
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Are some of those dead ends starting to open up? Is the panic starting to melt away? I hope so. Because when it goes, you’re going to release a lot of wonderful energy into that creative mind of yours, and with structure, you’ll be able to use it to do one after another of the projects that fascinate you.
You must do this exercise on a large sheet of paper divided into six large squares. Tape smaller sheets together if you don’t have anything large enough. Add a band of color for each project you long to do. Fit them all into the next six years.
We would love to know what your projects are, if you care to share them, but what’s even more important is whether you found room for all the projects you actually long to do and how it felt to put them on this wall Calendar. In a new comment, tell us. Then read the rest of the comments and see if you would like to reply to any of them.
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Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 3: The Sticky Note Solution after you are done with your comments.
This exercise is a HUGE struggle for me to complete. A few years ago when I first read the book, I believe it was simpler. Now however, I have moved states to help take care of my grandparents. I love them very much, and they tell me now and then to go live MY life wherever that calls me, but I just can’t leave them. So my future six years is blurry to me. I’d love to move abroad, or go back to school, but if I do that am I held down?? Or if I do move abroad will I regret leaving them? If I stay will I feel I’m missing out on something greater for me?
I’m so confused, my thoughts sit on the day-to-day/ getting by and helping others/paying bills. I have to think about me and a plan for myself? SCARY!!! And feels almost impossible. Too many options and I don’t know which one is right.
How would moving hold you down?
I think a step is seeing where you are and identifying the questions you’re facing.
Could there be a middle ground where you learn near your grandparents or find times to travel?
I found it difficult to choose which things to put on my calendar and which ones to leave off. As a result, I really had to fight the desire to stack way too many things in the first year and just have the line for these things extend through all six years.
In the end, I chose to put things that are top of mind for me at the moment. As a result, several days later I find myself questioning whether I have chosen correctly.
For example, one of the items I put in the first year was “learn fingerpicking on guitar.” Like many people, I suppose, I purchased a “starter” guitar that sits idle in the side of a room. I watch YouTube videos of great guitar players and think to myself that I’d love to be able to play like them. I make a couple of attempts to practice enough to develop callouses on my fingers and then lose interest and momentum. I “think” this tells me that I really don’t want to “master” fingerpicking guitar. So, now I’m thinking that I want to remove it from my calendar.
Great reflection ART! I have to remind myself all the time that there’s no right or wrong answers on my calendar, And I can change my mind. I chuckled when I read your post because I have experienced the same desire to play well, developed callouses…. And turned my gaze towards something else shiny❣️
I’m practicing a C chord this week. I don’t know where it will go.
I had put it on my calendar a year or two in the future. I can think of other things to try next.
I found this difficult to, it’s scary to look that far ahead. I feel I’ll only disappoint myself. But if Barbara says do it, do it will.
HI Zibby!
As I mentioned to Art, when I first did this exercise I was really overwhelmed by the six years :0) I got started and did what I could at the time and later I realized how much spaciousness six years allows to fit everything in! I also used sticky notes so that I could feel my dates were flexible and I could move things around to sooner or later. The other thing that helped me a lot was breaking down those things that I really loved so that I could do small parts of them all along the way….this relieved stress that I would get done and not have the pleasure continue and also allowed me to have that happiness sprinkled throughout the six years. If I lost interest, those stickies went to the bottom of the calendar and I did not have to worry about forgetting them in case I wanted to pick them up again. :0)
I found this to be a very difficult exercise. I think it’s mostly because I want to cram everything on my list into the first two years even though I know that I can’t possibly do all of the things I have listed in that timeframe.
At this “first pass” I have things listed for 2024 and 2025, but nothing past that.
Does anyone have any advice on how I might get myself to be more realistic about this exercise?
HI Art! Would it help if you expanded into the six years and knew you could start on the long list of things when you want but no expectation that it would all be done in two or three years?? I like having mine on sticky notes so I can move them forward when I need more time, or move another one to a closer date when I am inspired to do it sooner 🙂 Not sure if this is helpful but it was worth a try. I found the six years impossible and overwhelming at first….and then realized how much more spacious it felt to stretch out my list and know there was time for everything. 🙂
I’ve found myself discouraged on this one. The main things blocking me are a lack of belief that this will help me in some way and the feeling that I need something I don’t already have to make the calendar. What I mean is that I can’t just use a sheet of type paper; this should be BIG. So, I flounder to figure out what I do need.
I guess the act of articulating my difficulty here might just help me get over it. I can create a “good enough” calendar with the items in front of me and expand on it later. I might just do it in my daybook, for now.
I had a similar experience and I ended up doing mine in my day book as a draft. It’s surprisingly empty… I think this fits in with my ‘not entitled’ obstacle, as well as my secondary ‘pulled in too many directions’ obstacle, as I’m worried about filling it up with a whole lot of trivialities that will just overwhelm me without inspiring me. I’ll keep at it. Hope you do too.
I see my children’s lives, my age, and my parents’ age as structure
I can see into the next year (what I’m working on now) and I can dump lower priorities into future years
I like to drive across country biennially
I’m hesitant to make plans; I’m accustomed to figuring it out as I go
Understandably Nate! You can always try it and see, to do a little more planning and see how it goes! Then of course you want to do what works best for you!
Are you saying you do a cross country drive every couple years? That sounds absolutely amazing to me!
perhaps you want to put that on your six year calendar, Joel
i’ve driven cross country a number of times when moving
i’m a seven on the enneagram; i’ve always recruited company
i did it alone during the pandemic
i wished it was longer so i did it alone again last summer
i’ve realized spending time alone is the growth path for an enneagram seven
i visit people and favorite stops along the way
i’m looking forward to next summer