Hi fellow thinker! 🧐

I admit it: I fell down a crypto rabbit hole. It's been a few months now.

I'm not an investor. The more I learn, the more I see opportunities for creators and people aspiring to build their independence.

But it's an entirely new field. It has no immediate application to my current business. At the same time, studying it and trying new things takes a lot of time.

I don't want to miss this train. The blockchain is the foundation for our near future. How do I reconcile it with my life and work?

It's not a problem for crypto enthusiasts only, of course. We always need and want to expand our opportunities. If you aren't going forward, you are dying.

So, today I want to tell you how I intend to give enough space to exploration.

How to not do it

In July, I bought my first creator coins on Rally. I joined a community of primarily freelancers and entrepreneurs interested in crypto.

I already knew something about crypto, but that first action started the ball rolling. Directly experiencing anything teaches 10X more than just consuming content. It's an emotional effect, first of all.

So I adventured on Rally and bought other coins. I joined other communities. I subscribed to newsletters. I followed thought leaders on Twitter.

I started drinking from the crypto firehose.

But there was no method. "Let's quickly check this new coin," I thought. After one hour, I reemerged from an extensive search and ten other things I needed to delve into.

This approach ensures some "fantastic" side effects:

• work seems an obstacle on your way to chase the new opportunity
• fear of overvaluing the opportunity and sacrificing work for it never leaves you
• you are never sure if you are doing enough of both.

As a result, you're a nervous wreck.

But, after some discussions in the communities mentioned above, I regained control. I went back to the productivity first principles.

Time blocking will save me

I've been using time blocking for years.

All my commitments (even resting time) have an assigned duration on my calendar. This way, I know how much time I have. I also have the data to improve my estimates.

So, from now on, I'll block time for exploration. Every day I'll dedicate 30 minutes to learning and experimenting with crypto. Whenever I stumble upon a new crypto-related idea outside of those blocks, I'll save it in a project on Todoist (or a Notion page, will see). So, when the block starts, I'll just need to scroll through my project.

Thirty minutes is not enough. Maybe I'll increase the block duration some days, depending on the ROI of this activity.

This structure is rigid, but it surprisingly gives you more freedom:

• during exploration blocks, I am free to do anything related to crypto, no feelings of guilt because I should be working,
• setting my schedule before the week begins ensures that I dedicate enough time to my work.

It's a compromise. We never have enough time for all the things we'd like to do.

But it should keep me sane without precluding me from the new opportunities I'm spotting.

What do you think? How do you ensure you have time for exploration in your life?

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