In the "MESO" layer of the PIOS there are three aspects to this layer:
- Goals
- Projects
- Phases
Each layer corresponds to a time of the year, as in yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly etc. The Meso layer is that of the Monthly layer, so each month you are establishing what "Phase" you need to work on (we'll get to what that in a sec), what projects will fit in that month, and what are your goals for those projects and phases. Each coming together for your progression towards what you want to accomplish in life!
What is a Phase?
A phase is a focus or area of your life. For example to me it comes in two shapes, either a career or a potential career.
I built PolyInnovator to be the foundation for any of my future careers, so I'm sometimes mixing future ones with current ones. That it sometimes makes it hard to explain, but I'll do my best!
A phase is a focus of interest for a certain period of time. Technically speaking PolyInnovator is my main phase, and that could very well end in 5 years, or it might go until I die (more likely the latter).
However within that career I've chosen for myself I have many phases that I want to make content and paid content products for too. The first one was the DIY degree, which is now the Modular Degree. That lead into my "knowledge management for polymaths" niche I am in now. The next after that was taking my career as a swim instructor and making it into content.
1./ DIY education, 2./Swimming Content, 3./PolyTools (becoming a content creator), 4./ PolyInnovator Gaming, 5./Music production (future), etc
Each one of these phases are important in their own right, and I initially thought to myself they would be one after the other. However I quickly realized that there are plenty of situations where your phases overlap!
How does this PIOS layer work?
I find that this layer is one of the most important ones, and I often go into my phases folder/database often to re-check what I am doing, or to find my notes on it. For example the gaming phase for me, which I need to keep track of all of the games I want to play in it.
The projects folder can get messy real quick, and so some people might like to have a projects folder for each phase to help organize it. Really up to you, as I personally don't have THAT many projects. You may or may not either.
Now goal setting is something I personally need to get better at before I give out advice. However the way I see it, is that it is wise to have 3 goals for the year (or month if you are doing quicker sprints), and aiming to achieve those goals.
What about Tasks?
Task management is a crucial aspect to this layer, however due to the complexity of fitting all of your goals and projects into your phases. Not to mention some random projects here and there that aren't related to a phase (which is rare). They need to have their own space.
All of your goals and projects will generate tasks, but so will your habits and systems. However it is your habits that will help you complete your tasks, it is your reliance on your systems that will help you do even more of them too.
Your first step is figuring out YOUR Phases!
I pursue them with the pareto principle in mind, 80/20 rule, which means that 80% of your time is focused on your main-current phase.
However that 20% gets interesting, most people might see it as 20% sowing the seeds for the next one. I often think actually 10% sowing the seeds, and 10% keeping the flame alive for the last one.
One thing I've done, that I think for more experienced people with knowledge management; Is doing the 60/20/20 split. Really helpful if you are trying to build a few different things over the course of a few years.
Last year I felt that all 3 of my channels got behind, and I needed to simultaneously catch up. Thus I did a rare 33/33/34 split, which I do not recommend, as it can be very overwhelming (even for the polymathic).
Figure out what you need to do first, what interest or niche, makes you most excited!
