How To Do The Work of Byron Katie More Quickly

How Fast Should You Work Through A JYNW?

Are You Boring Yourself By Doing The Work Too Slowly?

There’s a fine line between boredom and thoroughness.

For me, doing The Work thoroughly means questioning every thought I put on my worksheet. There might be 10 or 20 thoughts on my worksheet. I’ve taken as many as twelve hours to thoroughly work through a Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet (JYNW) from top to bottom.

But last spring I noticed that I was sometimes impatient and bored by going so slowly. So I questioned my beliefs about “slower is better,” and found a balance side to the story.

Sometimes Slow Is Just Repetitive

You may notice, as you look at what you wrote on your worksheet, that you chose serveral different ways to say the same thing. When this happens, working one version of what you wrote may be sufficient. Overdoing it and questioning every variation may lead to some frustration because the same answers keep coming up.

Here Are A Few Ways I’ve Sped Up My Work

• I don’t ask many subquestions to question #3 (How do you react?). I’ve noticed over the years, that exploring every aspect of how I react is not necessary, and gets tedious. All I really need to experience from this question is how stressful it is to believe it. If I’m working in fast mode, this is one place I save a lot of time.
• When statements appear to be repetitive, I choose to work just one version of the repetitive thought, not every single one. In other words, I skip some concepts on my worksheet.
• I tend to work one or two concepts thoroughly, and then start turning around the others once the main concepts have been unraveled. This really helps me to pick up the pace towards the end of a worksheet. If I’m doing a worksheet in an hour, the last 20 minutes are typically spent turning around different statements, and just finding an example or two of each.

I Often Find That Faster Is More Light and Playful

When you’re in the trenches going slow, The Work can take on a more tedious, work-like quality. The Work is like driving a car. It’s somehow always more fun when you’re flying along with the wind in your hair.

I find that my heart really opens when I’m breaking the speed limit, especially towards the end of a worksheet. It’s definitely worth tasting this experience if you never have.

So Which Is Better? Slow or Fast?

There is no general answer of right or wrong when doing The Work. This is your work to explore, and to find out for yourself.

For me, faster is a turnaround from being overly thorough and slow. For you, slower might be a turnaround from being overly hasty. But only you can know.

The only way to know for sure is to test it out. Do it fast. Do it slow. And change it up. Maybe one worksheet is wonderful for fast-paced inquiry. And another worksheet may merit a more slow approach. I invite you to experiment.

And to make it easy for you to experiment, I’m experimenting with this on the forum too.

Starting September 3rd, There Will Be Three Variations of Inquiry on the Forum

Many of you are familiar with Slow-Cook Inquiry, where we work through one worksheet over a 12 week period. This has the advantage of only taking 5-10 minutes a day. And it allows you to really steep in your answers all day. Since you’re just answering one question per day, you can really experience The Work as meditation.

Now, in addition to Slow-Cook Inquiry, there are two faster versions as well.

Introducing “Steady Pace Inquiry” and “The Daily Worksheet”

Both options are just like Slow-Cook Inquiry, only faster.

1. Steady Pace Inquiry

In Steady Pace Inquiry, you will work thoroughly through a worksheet every two weeks (instead of every 12 weeks with Slow-Cook Inquiry). The time commitment will probably be around 20-30 minutes a day. This is a great option for steady, medium-paced inquiry, working through one complete concept per day.

2. The Daily Worksheet

The Daily Worksheet is the fastest option. Here you will be writing a new worksheet every day, and working through it the same day. The idea here is to deal with situations as they come up every day.

It will also give you a chance to cover a wide variety of subjects in your life. This will be the perfectionist’s nightmare. So come prepared to work less thoroughly. You may not get to work every concept on your worksheet. Suggested time commitment is 30-60 minutes per day.

Hopefully You’ll Find a Pace that Works for You

Whether you like it slow, medium, or fast, I hope you’ll find an option for doing The Work that works for you. Read more details about these new options below.

Have a great week,
Todd

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