On Being a Black Belt pt 1

The very best users of a time management system are what the 2Time Management system recognizes as Black Belts.

Black Belts have already been practicing as Green Belts in many of the components of the 2Time Management System, from Capturing to Reviewing.

They might not be perfect, but they are constantly improving the way they manage their time management system.

However, at the Black Belt level they are no longer just concerned with their own system. Instead, they are concerned with the systems of others.

A Black Belt can work effectively with professionals at every other level, including Novices or White Belts.

The way they do this is by accurately assessing the capabilities of others with whom they work, and creating enough flexibility in their own system to ensure that no important time demands fall through the cracks.

For example, a Novice who receives a critical time demand from a Black Belt in a meeting might, as a matter of course, not write it down, saying something like “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” At that moment, the Black Belt would enter the time demand into a capture point and create a reminder for themselves to follow up with the person.

They recognize that the Novice’s time management system cannot be trusted, and that if they are to be assured that the time demand is completed, their own system must do the work.

The same applies for each of the components in the 2Time Management system. Where time demands are critical, they refuse to allow them to languish in other people’s systems, as they understand that their failure to execute is no fault of the user, but instead a fault in the system they are using.

They also understand that ultimately the failure of the time demand will be felt by them, the Black Belt, and they simply take responsibility for the execution of the time demand.

Therefore, Black Belts are the idea people and professionals that run organization, teams and projects as the practices they have developed are quite powerful.