ACTIVITY: Create “Rules of Engagement” to Guard Your Time
Not sure how to set boundaries? This might help.
Every so often, I’ll suggest a short activity to help you feel less overwhelmed and more purposeful. You should be able to complete it in less than 15 minutes.
Setting boundaries is often a good idea, but the practice can be difficult and vague. How do you do such a thing? And, perhaps more importantly, how do you enforce boundaries once they’re set?
For this activity, let’s focus on boundaries relating to your time. And here’s a way to make it super practical: more than just “boundaries,” it might be helpful to create Rules of Engagement.
Rules of engagement (ROE) are guideposts that help you navigate decisions in the thick of the action. The concept comes from military practice, where battlefield commanders have to make quick, life-or-death decisions.
We don’t need to extend the military metaphor too much—you get the idea. As applied to time, ROE are basically “pre-decisions” that you make in advance
Some examples from readers in a recent survey I did:
“My long-term goal is to write a book. Every weekday morning, I spend 30 minutes brainstorming chapter ideas, aligning with my weekly writing goal.”
“At 6 PM, I switch off work notifications and transition to personal time. My phone goes into Do Not Disturb mode.”
“My calendar has a 2-hour block from 8 AM to 10 AM for deep work on the report. I set a reminder for a 10-minute break at 9 AM.”
“Each morning, I check my color-coded calendar. Today, I have a red task to finish a report due by noon, so I start with that.”
“But these don’t work for me” / “But what about exceptions”
Whoa, I hear you! The point is to set your own Rules of Engagement, based on what works for you. ROE need to be customized or they likely won’t work at all.
As for exceptions, well, all tools are there to guide you, not constrict you. For example, most parents of young children would set up an exception to their phone’s DND settings to allow for communication from school, aftercare programs, or similar.
So, again, these aren’t one-size-fits-all. But if you’re having a hard time…
Working on a creative project
Doing something that’s important but not urgent
Getting sidetracked
Then Rules of Engagement can be very helpful!
Whether your ROE are designed to ward against outside distractions or help you maintain self-discipline (or both), they allow you to do more of what matters to you.
Try it out for yourself. Create at least one ROE to support you in the life and work style that serves you best. 💚
Recently purchased a cube timer on Amazon. Did I need a cube timer? No. Could I set an alarm on my phone instead? Yes. But I love the idea of a lil buddy sitting on my desk counting down the time I have allotted for writing, exercising, etc. If you find a hack that you’re excited about, then that’s the hack you need to exploit. Whatever works. I love the quote if you want to change your life then add or subtract a habit. What we do = the life we enjoy or are missing out on.
My ROE as far as mornings go were pretty solid until I had hand surgery 2 weeks ago. I must confess that it threw me into a total funk not to be able to do things like feed my horses, use a pepper grinder, or tie my own shoes. (Fortunately, my daughter and husband take care of those things for me). But this article made me realize that I can still meditate and journal -both of which help me unpack things a bit. Instead, I just waved the white flag… Time to reconnoiter...Once more unto the breach