This is a great presentation by the author of 43 folders on maintaining an “Inbox of Zero”:
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=973149761529535925&hl=en]
Kinds of Lists
Listing is one of the essential practices of the 2Time Management system, especially for users above the Novice or White Belt level.
The premise is simple: it is easier and more manageable to add an item to a list than it is to add the individual item to a schedule in the calendar. For example, a savvy user would schedule the following item in their calendar:
2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Monday, August 10th. Pay bills in bill list
At the appropriate time, they would consult their list of bills to pay which might look like the following:
- Light
- Water
- Cable
- Phone
- Visa
This is a much more convenient way to manage a set of similar items than to do the following:
2:00 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. Monday, August 10th. Pay light bill
2:10 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. Monday, August 10th. Pay water bill and so on.
Lists are created for one of two purposes. Some have a psychological function, while others have a more practical function. Continue reading “Kinds of Lists”
Giving the questions rather than the answers
One of the goals of the 2Time Management system is to once and for all separate the tons of advice with respect to time management and productivity thinking, and differentiate what is essential from what is merely useful.
The fact that there is precious little research on time management techniques is a travesty, and one of the results is that there seems to be no disciplined way to think about time management. At the moment, the different individuals that present their ideas on time management seem to be more interested in presenting what they think of as their “final solutions” rather than in understanding the underlying structure of all systems of personal productivity. Continue reading “Giving the questions rather than the answers”
So little research
Why is there so very little research in personal productivity?
In designing the 2Time Management system, I have found that there is a severe lack of scholarship with respect to time management.
I can only think that this is because there is not a single, united field that clearly applies to the problem of managing time. What school or college should a graduate student apply to in order to pursue studies in this field? Continue reading “So little research”
Capturing – Putting Items in Existence
One of the big problems that professionals have in learning how to improve their productivity is to discipline themselves to follow the simple principle of putting items in existence by making them tangible and visible.
Making something “tangible and visible” is the same as writing it down in a place from where it can be reliably retrieved when the item is needed. In other words, it means taking a Time Demand from one’s memory and writing it down, effectively outsourcing its storage from brain cells to paper. Continue reading “Capturing – Putting Items in Existence”