Secure your Seat Now | Circles in Time
The next edition of the Circles in Time programme kicks off on the 24th of August. Book your spot now!
Hey everybody,
The third edition of the Circles in Time programme kicks off on the 24th of August. That’s soon! At present, there are still spots available. If you are familiar with the programme details and would like to take part, you can sign up here:
If you are interested but would like to learn more, see below for all the programme details.
WHAT IS THE CIRCLES IN TIME PROGRAMME?
An eight-week course on how to apply behavio(u)ral insights, tools and techniques to your personal and professional life.
WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE CIRCLES IN TIME PROGRAMME?
The initiative aims to solve a very urgent and important problem that all of us face every day. Namely, how do we close the intention-action gaps in our own lives, and build the sorts of systems, routines and habits that will serve us over the long run?
There is a myriad of books (see below), talks and papers addressing self-control challenges, personal development and intention-action problems.
The truth of the matter, though, is that without complementary initiatives, these texts aren’t enough on their own to solve the behavioural challenges they all discuss. This isn’t because the content in these texts isn’t valuable; it certainly is. Instead, these texts simply aren’t the right vehicles for moving from understanding to implementation and integration.
As all the authors of these books will attest: More information on its own doesn’t lead to better decisions, actions and new habits. Their ideas are maps that show us the paths to walk down, but each one of us still needs to do the walking. The problem is that ‘the walking’ is often the hardest part.
How does the Circles in Time programme aim to solve this problem?
By synthesising the latest behavioural research into a set of frameworks, exercises and templates, while at the same time, providing participants with a live, social and practical experience that focuses on action, not just knowledge. On implementation, not just conceptualisation. On experimentation, not just theory.
These days, information about how to improve our lives is abundant. It is the application of that information and consistent integration into our daily lives that is scarce. It shouldn’t be. That is why the programme exists.
WHAT MAKES THE CIRCLES IN TIME PROGRAMME UNIQUE?
Terms like ‘online course’ or ‘programme’ are useful for categorising Circles in Time, but in many exciting ways, the initiative isn’t like anything that exists today.
Here is why:
A Different Standard for Success
Most online courses aim to teach you something. Their goal is typically either knowledge or skill acquisition. Circles in Time goes two steps further. Firstly, you need to actively apply the knowledge and skills you are learning to your personal life during the programme. Secondly, you need to integrate the personal systems you create, in a circulatory manner, as opposed to once-off, flash-in-the-pan activities, improving the chances of these systems persisting over the long run.
Time-zone Friendly
One challenge with running a live online course is the potential time-zone differences of different participants. As a result, many course creators have either opted for an asynchronous approach (no live workshops or lectures) or they only allow access to the narrow band of potential participants within a timezone that suits them. The mission of Circles in Time is to be globally accessible. As a result, being time-zone friendly is a core focus, so that anyone from any continent on the planet can take part.
Social at its Core
Many online courses have a social dimension to their experience. Yet, the social dimension often feels like an add-on, a feature or a box that had to be ticked. Circles in Time is social at its core. This is not just because social activities improve the experience of participants, but that a social dimension is also fundamental for any form of durable behaviour change to take place.
The Programme is the just Start
Typical online courses view course completion as an end to move participants towards. For Circles in Time, the programme is just the beginning. It is a way to provide participants with the necessary knowledge, skills and experiences so that when they enter the Circles in Time Membership Space, they can engage easily and contribute constructively to the community initiatives there.
WHO IS THE CIRCLES IN TIME PROGRAMME FOR?
Almost anyone who is interested in self-improvement can benefit from the programme. It is, however, set up to serve behavioural researchers, practitioners and enthusiasts. People with at least a base-level understanding of the behavioural science literature, and applying the insights, tools and techniques from the field, in the work they do.
Building Professional Skills through Personal Experiences
There is another reason why individuals working with behavioural science professionally stand to gain the most from the programme.
The experience that participants gain from applying behavioural science to their own lives provides valuable lessons on how to apply behavioural science to business or social problems. Practical experience in narrowly defining behavioural objectives, identifying root causes, building interventions and running experiments, are all valuable competencies. They are valuable whether they are applied to getting yourself to exercise consistently, improving take-up of a digital financial product, or creating a policy that increases the likelihood that citizens will go and get a vaccine.
There is so much valuable literature on behavioural science. Hence it is often the jumping-off point for many people getting into the field. But without building a practical sense of what it is actually like to change behaviour, the lessons from the literature won’t land.
Behavioural practitioners need both a strong theoretical understanding of the literature and a practical understanding of what solving behavioural problems in the world is actually like. To gain the latter, you can start by learning how to change your own behaviour.
WHAT HAVE PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS SAID ABOUT THE PROGRAMME?
LOGISTICAL DETAILS
HOW LONG IS THE CIRCLES IN TIME PROGRAMME?
The programme spans eight weeks (24 August - 15 October). The first four weeks include a set of live workshops, held every Saturday, with light offline exercises to complete during the week. The second four weeks focus setting up, running and evaluating a personal experiment with periodic live check-ins.
WHAT DOES THE PROGRAMME SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?
Given the wide-ranging geographic locations of interested participants, two workshop session slots will be set up to accommodate the time differences. The workshop session duration will vary between 2 and 3 hours.
Workshop Time Slot A: Saturday's at 6 am (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot B: Saturday's at 3 pm (GMT)
Schedule Details:
Week 1: Understanding Your Personal Challenge
An Introduction to Self-applied Behavioural Science
Content Release: Monday at 1 pm (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot A: Saturday's at 6 am (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot B: Saturday's at 3 pm (GMT)
Week 2: Setting your Behaviour-based Goals
A Behaviourally-informed Approach to Setting Personal Goals
Content Release: Monday at 1 pm (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot A: Saturday's at 6 am (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot B: Saturday's at 3 pm (GMT)
Week 3: Building a Behavioural Scaffolding
Understanding the Context & Self-Deploying Interventions
Content Release: Monday at 1 pm (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot A: Saturday's at 6 am (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot B: Saturday's at 3 pm (GMT)
Week 4: Self-Experimentation
Getting Serious about Self-experimentation and How to Use It
Content Release: Monday at 1 pm (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot A: Saturday's at 6 am (GMT)
Workshop Time Slot B: Saturday's at 3 pm (GMT)
Followed by a set of bi-weekly check-ins with two timeslots per week. (starting the week of the 24th September 2020)
HOW MUCH WILL THE PROGRAMME COST?
I intend to avoid third-party funding avenues, sponsorship, investment and advertising, in developing and growing the Circles in Time programme. My experience is that involving additional stakeholders can shift the incentives, confuse the priorities and slow down progress. I'd like to avoid this as much as possible. The simpler, clearer and more focused the objectives the better. Success should be measured by the impact the programme has on people's lives, not returning investment through high margins or how neatly it aligns with a particular brand's commercial positioning.
With that said, to dedicate my attention towards building and facilitating the programme and paying for the software services required to bring it to life, my view is that it is reasonable to expect the participants to assist in covering the costs if they can.
8 Week Programme Price:* 250$ (USSD)
*I'm aware, given COVID and the economic climate that some of the interested participants may not be able to cover the cost at this time. I'd hate for finances to be the reason why you can't participate. If this isn't something you can afford right now, please email me directly (david.r.perrott@gmail.com), and we can make a plan.
Post-programme Community Invitation
At the end of the 8-week programme, participants will be invited to access an online community space which includes members from the previous CiT programme cohorts and hopefully many others in the future, as the programme grows. The online community space is set up to facilitate ongoing behaviour change as well as guided social learning on topics relating to self-applied behavioural science, personal system design, habit-formation, self-tracking and self-experimentation. The group gets access to monthly online workshops, check-ins, webinars with guest speakers, content and digital tools.
Community access (monthly subscription)*: 12$ (USSD)
*You only need to decide on whether to join the online community space at the end 8-week programme.
I AM INTERESTED IN JOINING. WHAT NEXT?
STEP ONE. SIGN UP.
Sign up and book your spot using the link below:
Once your application is received, you will get feedback via email on what to do next.
Take care,
David