Applied Research in a World of Increasing Time Demands
Why is it that we make such a big deal about the need to understand your current time management skills here at 2Time Labs?
In this podcast with Val and Jayne from Save-Time.org we take an in-depth look at the our methods of diagnosing clients’ current skills – a critical shortcut in learning how to undertake an upgrade that’s efficient.
Don’t forget to sign up for regular updates to the podcast via iTunes.
In a prior article on the topic of time demands I made a statement that is the cornerstone of my training: a time demand is an individual commitment to complete an action in the future.
I mentioned the fact that we create them in our minds, using a combination of imagination and volition. Until this event takes place, a time demand doesn’t exist – it hasn’t even been born.
What then of an unread email message that includes an important, and urgent time demand? According to the strict definition, it is not actually a time demand until it comes to our attention.
But does the email have some importance? Is it worth tracking? Is it worth separating from the other spam that’s in our Inbox, or lying on a gmail server in cyber-space?
After the fact, it’s clear that the email contains something that’s important before it’s read, so I’m coining a new definition: a “potential trigger.”
A “potential trigger” is a piece of information that may trigger the creation of a time demand once it’s read. As I mentioned in the article linked above, it may exist in the form of an email message, a tweet, a voicemail or even a letter in an envelope. Potential triggers are sent to us 24-7, and as working adults we have an agreement with our employers to take them seriously, collect them in some way and to examine them for time demands.
In other words, if a colleague sends you a potential trigger, you are obliged to process it in some way.
This isn’t rocket science by any means, but it appears to clear up some of the confusion in the way I use the term “time demands.”
I thought long and hard about the main character in my book especially after learning what writing a novel really and truly involved. Bill became a composite character that seemed to fit the role. So far, the feedback around him has been positive…
Click here to see the prior post in this series on YouTube, on why I decided to write a time management business fable or parable, rather than a regular “how-to” book.
I found an interesting article that gives an early peek at the impact that email is having on our stress levels.
The article entitled Email raises stress levels gives an early peek at some intriguing research being conducted at Loughborough University by Professor Tom Jackson and his team. In a nutshell, it reveals that reading and sending email increases stress, and that it peaks at the times of day when people’s inboxes were the fullest.
Also, email “which arrived in response to completed work had a calming effect,” which appears to back up research conducted by Masicampo and Baumeister and M. Zeigarnik around the effect of completed or well-managed tasks.
I’m going to try to get a hold of the original research, just because it appears to be so promising. In particular, I suspect that email by itself has little effect, but the time demands that email triggers… well, that’s where it all starts.
Take a look at the article and stay tuned to this space for more insights if I am able to learn some more about these early findings.
In this interview with Val McDougall and Jayne Jennings of Save-Time.org and Pink Shoe Power, we explored the degree to which the work we do overlaps. We all strongly believe that one size doesn’t fit all and that we need to provide a way for learners to improve their skills, even as they find their own way.
[podcast]http://www.2time-sys.com/Storage%20Audio/Val%20and%20Jayne%20Podcast%2030_May_2013_18_02_06.mp3[/podcast]
You can also download the podcast from this link.
I hope you enjoy the broadcast, which lasts a little under an hour.
In my prior post I mentioned the fact that recently spoke at the American Society of Training and Development’s International Conference and Exposition in Dallas. The topic of my speech, given to about 175 people, was “How to Stop Failing at Behavior Change Training.”
More importantly, I had an opportunity to bring a new idea developed here at 2Time Labs into the spotlight: when it comes to behavior change training such as time management, the traditional tendency is to try to give users long lists of new behaviors and simply give orders to get learners to follow them closely.
This approach may have worked in the past, but today it results in bored learners who quickly Google the behaviors being shared in the first hour, leaving by lunchtime once they have dug up all the contents of the list. They beat the trainer to the punch, in other words.
Instead, in the presentation, I advocated the approach we use here at 2Time Labs, which starts with the assumption that the learner is an adult who can effectively tackle the challenge of developing sophisticated skills. In other words, they can learn how to craft their own upgrade to their time management skills whenever they want.
The training we deliver in MyTimeDesign Plus (online) and NewHabits (ground) are based on this goal. Having it as a the primary outcome at all times has made all the difference, as you may imagine, as new eLearning technologies have come onstream, as well as better definitions of andragogy – adult learning.
You can pick up a summary of my presentation at the ASTD Conference here – How to Stop Failing at Behavior Change Training – The Case of Time Management.
Last week at the ASTD Conference I presented a number of ideas developed from the work we do here at 2Time Labs in time management. If you are a training administrator or corporate trainer, you may be interested checking out the ideas I shared on the topic of time management training and how to use what we have learned to develop and deliver better behavior change training.
Also, the additional resources I promised to share at the conference can be found here.
In my book, I threw a number of obstacles in the way of the protagonist, Bill. They were all realistic, and reflect the work I have done with clients over the years.
Many contemporary problems are made worse by abuses of technology – as you’ll see from reading the book.
My prior post describes the character of Bill, the start of the “story.” His discoveries in time management are the main driver of the book – for more about him, click here for a Youtube video.
This guest post was generously contributed by the dynamic team of Valerie McDougall & Jayne Jennings of Pink Shoe Power.com and Time Management Styles.com.
Do women suffer more time management grief than men?
Our research shows this can often be the case. Some put it down to the wiring of our brains but cultural issues play a huge part, too.
Here we’ll deal with two common issues and discuss why women need to be particularly wary of them and what they can do about them.
First, is that bane of today’s world: multitasking!
We hope we hear you agreeing that multitasking is to be avoided.
Trouble is, evidence shows that too many of us feel we’re not ‘achieving’ if we aren’t doing at least three things at once!
You’ll have seen women supposedly having a coffee break, or lunch while talking on the phone and putting on their make-up or checking email at the same time. And now there is the phenomenon of ‘dual screeners’ particularly amongst teenagers and young adults.
They engage in a TV show at the same time as texting and checking emails on their phone or tablet.
Many studies show that multitasking may feel as if you’re getting things done but it’s inefficient, can actually cost you far more time and is bad for memory retention and for optimum outcomes.
Our more gender-specific problem stems from women being generally better at multitasking than men. Research says it’s because our brains are more symmetrical than males.
Think of the evolution of our species. Our brain wiring grew from the time when men had to focus on hunting—needing concentration on one thing—while women kept an eye on the children, the fire going while chatting and often making something with their hands plus as the gatherers, had to be on the lookout for food.
However, as the world has made multitasking more of a virtue, we’ve tried to use our skills in ways never intended—for tasks that really need our full attention to do them properly. Men tend to be able to focus on one thing far more easily.
Multitasking not only lowers our ability to do the given jobs to their best but can elevate the feeling of being overwhelmed—a great producer of stress.
When you come to terms with the value of ‘being in the moment’—which in this case, means giving any one task its due focus—you do justice to your abilities. You can shine.
It means prioritising your tasks and using your calendar in the smartest way to set specific times for those tasks. Whether you’re a man or a woman!
The second alarm-ringer for us is that women are more likely to be the ‘go-to’ people for others and because of this can struggle with their time management. You know the ones: they’re quick and able, willing helpers but awful at saying no!
To go back a step, we identified these gender traps after developing our breakthrough approach to time management.
Through our research we realised—just like Francis in his work at 2Time Labs–that one-size doesn’t fit all when it comes to time management.
We then developed a system so that people could identify their own time personality—or as we call them—their Time Management Style. We also developed a clever Profiler, backed by an algorithm, to help you identify your Time Style in an objective way.
We identified five main Time Styles (plus many variations) and we give them names for fun and helpful identification.
The first Gender Trap of multitasking particularly affects those we call Juggling Julie or Juggling James. They’re creative and accomplished but let themselves down—or stress themselves out—by letting their ‘juggling’ abilities get out of hand.
This second Gender Trap of struggling to say no particularly hampers Helpful Helen or Helpful Harry.
They’re willing helpers and can be great teachers. But because of their reluctance to say no, they often find themselves getting bitter and put-upon when they help others so much that their own work suffers.
The nurturing roles of most females can emphasise Helpful Helen tendencies so they have to be particularly aware of this to start changing.
If you find yourself taking on too much of other people’s issues and tasks, reconsider your position. Start learning to say no to small things—practice with a script, if you need. Find other ways to help—suggest to them that you guide them while they do it themselves. Often, they can do it anyway, they just know you’re an easy way for them to save their own time!
Both these Time Styles have splendid strengths, too. Knowing your Time Style will give you faster insight into how you can use your strengths, deal with your challenges—including how you sabotage your time—so you can use your time effectively using strategies suited to you.
We’ve helped men and women throughout the world identify their challenges and strategies to improve their strengths. Start with the Profiler—it takes only about 15 minutes—but delivers on-going ‘a-ha’ moments so you can make the most of your time.
Women should go to www.PinkShoePower.com and do the Profiler. Men, please shoot us an email as we have a special link for you!
Valerie McDougall & Jayne Jennings are the authors of Pink Shoe Power: What your Time Management Style means for your success in business and life. They help businesses and individuals make the most of their lives by working with their own ‘time personality’.
As you probably know, my book “Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure” is not written as an abstract set of ideas, but as a story, or parable. If you have been around 2Time Labs for a while you’ll know that this is a pretty significant departure from the norm for me.
The truth is that I thought it would be a novel way to introduce some new ideas about time management in an effortless, easy way for the reader. It was very challenging for me to complete, but I hope that it hit the mark!