On Being a Black Belt pt 2

Black Belts are the leaders in defining the 2Time Management system. In effect, they are the system’s innovators that together define and refine the core practices at the core of the system, and at the core of all time management systems.

They are forever researching, testing and trying new approaches as they are made public to see if there are any changes that needed to be made to the system.

Also, they define, and are responsible for, the training that people take to learn the 11 Components. Some may manage the movement of 2Time users from belt to belt, coaching them along the way in breaking new habits and forming new ones.

On Buying the Latest Productivity Gadget

There is always a new gadget or system on the market that advertises itself as the latest solution to a professional’s time management needs.

How is a busy professional to adopt new technologies as they are invented, popularized and released? Should he or she simply buy each new gadget to test it out, and see what happens?

Unfortunately, this is what many have done, which explains the abundance of gadgets that have ended up in so many people’s drawers. From Filofaxes to PDAs to digital voice recorders to Treos to Blackberries – they all promised greater productivity.

However, a gadget that is used by a Novice, without any understanding of the underlying structure of a time management system, is only destined to fail. Continue reading “On Buying the Latest Productivity Gadget”

The Game of 2Time

2Time is nothing more than a game.

From a certain perspective, it is a complex game in which a user is scoring themselves using the belt system, and attempting to improve their score over time by changing long-ingrained habits.

Users take the initial course and decide what level they are currently operating at, and which belt-level they belong to. They develop a plan before leaving the course with target dates for changing certain habits. Continue reading “The Game of 2Time”

Time Demands

The basic element that every professional has to deal with is what we in the 2Time Management system call a Time Demand.

A Time Demand is born when someone decides to use some, as yet unspecified, amount of time to accomplish some task no matter how small. Most Time Demands are meant to be dealt with in the future, as it is usually impossible to drop everything to complete it immediately.

Time Demands include 2 parts, a prompt plus a commitment. Some examples include:

  • a request that someone else makes that we agree to fulfill
  • a decision to start exercising on Monday
  • a project that we are going to start working on next month
  • a bill that must be paid by check at the end of the month
  • a call to our mother tonight
  • time to rest, recover or recuperate
  • the time we spend in the car to get from Chaguanas to Port of Spain for a wedding
  • an email that needs to be returned
  • checking voice-mail
  • reading the newspaper in the morning

These all take time to be fulfilled, from short times to very long times.

Many professionals are stressed by the number and weight of the time demands that they have committed to fulfill. Continue reading “Time Demands”