A practice for attention
Three Stones
A small daily practice for deciding what deserves a place in the day before the day decides for you.
The jar is full before the day begins.
In 2016, while running a company and trying to lead a growing team, I kept reaching the end of a day that had been full without being useful. A paper planner called Just Three gave me a better question: what are the few things that need a place before everything else arrives?
That question became a practice. Not a system for getting more done. A way to choose what counts.
Most days are run by sand.
The inbox, notifications, school forms, bills, and small emergencies are not trivial. They are simply good at arriving first. Productivity systems often make us faster at answering them.
Three Stones is a refusal to confuse urgent with important. Put the stones in first, or there will not be room for them later.
Choose three kinds of commitment.
The framework is intentionally small. It gives the day enough structure to protect what matters, and enough flexibility to meet real life.
One for yourself
Something that keeps you whole: health, learning, rest, making, or the work that helps you become the person you mean to be.
One for someone else
A commitment that strengthens a relationship, a team, a family, or a community. It should be specific enough to do today.
One for the day
The flexible stone. The important practical work that will change with the situation in front of you.
The point is authorship.
You will still answer messages. You will still handle the unexpected. But the day starts with a few deliberate choices already made.
Read the writing guide