#417 Watches. Watch your watch

A simple question can change the shape of your day: do you watch your watch, or does time disappear when you’re fully alive? We explore how a quiet morning ritual, a favorite meditation, and an unexpected moment of zoning out reveal the deeper story of attention—why some minutes feel like one and others stretch forever. Using a watch as our guide, we look at how to find flow, protect the hours that matter, and gently redesign routines so presence becomes the default, not the exception.

We walk through the pre-dawn scene: coffee brewing, the living room going dark, and a 10–12 minute Lectio 365 practice that sometimes lands and sometimes slips by unnoticed. That tension becomes a practical tool. We draw distinctions between activities that compress time—deep work, meaningful conversations, creative focus—and those that make you count seconds—unfocused meetings, friction-heavy tasks, and rituals done on autopilot. You’ll hear strategies to cultivate flow states, from setting clear stakes and adding immediate feedback to batching distractions, building recovery into your day, and aligning work with your natural rhythm.

Along the way, we highlight how intention amplifies attention: tying tasks to values, designing small cues that prompt presence, and making progress visible so motivation compounds. The goal isn’t to squeeze more minutes from the clock; it’s to deepen the minutes you already have. We close with an open invitation to share what makes time fly for you and what needs to change so you can stop staring at your wrist and start living with meaning.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a time reset, and leave a quick review—what’s one activity that makes minutes vanish for you?

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Series Context
• 0:39 Time, Attention, and Meaning
• 1:21 Morning Ritual and Lectio 365
• 2:07 Flow vs. Clock-Watching
• 2:39 Invitation to Share Reflections

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Growth Instigators Hotline. I'm Aaron Havens, your host and growth coach. This is message 417. This week we are talking about watches, an everyday normal object that we can assign deeper meaning to, something that can grab our attention and represents something bigger. Welcome to part two of five as we dive into lessons we can gleam from watches. The world must have been in unison yesterday. Why? Multiple people left initial thoughts talking about watching their watches. Ha! So today, part two of our five-part watch series, let's talk about how we spend our time. So I have a morning routine where my alarm goes off early. I walk upstairs to my coffee pot making final brewing sounds. It's lovely. I pour my cup of coffee and go sit on my couch right about when my timer on my light turns off. Now I'm sitting under a blanket in a dark living room drinking a hot cup of coffee. Then I push play on my Lectio 365 app. And for roughly 10 to 12 minutes, I'm guided through incredible meditation of scripture and prayer. It's now a routine. I love it. You know what's crazy though? I have a friend who does this as well. And yesterday's Lectio was one of my favorite of all times. I sent him a text saying how awesome it was, and he responded something like, I can't even remember what it was about. I can't even remember anything about it. Which made me think multiple times after pushing play on my 12-minute Lectio 365 app, I just zone out. It ends. And I didn't really pay attention to any of it. Just being thoughts wandering. And you know what? That's probably the last time in my day I'll get that privilege. So the question for today do you watch your watch? What activities do you partake in where 12 minutes feels like one minute? You end that time recharged and ready to go. You're so interested in what you're doing that time just passes without you knowing. And here's the reverse question: What activities in your life do you watch your watch wishing time would speed up? Maybe it's time to change those things up. Let's spend our most valuable resources living life that way. The way where time flies. That, my friend, is how a common everyday object can instigate growth. I'd like to hear some more thoughts and observations from you on watches. For those of you calling the Growth Insigators Hotline, I'd love to hear your thoughts after the beep. For those of you listening in on our podcast, visit growth instigators.com and send me your thoughts.