Author: Francis Wade

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Never Trust Your Time Management System!

I read an interesting post over at the GTD Help blog, and come up with some different conclusions that are perhaps directly opposed to those in the post below.

Here is the link to the post from the GTD Help blog

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Do you REALLY trust your system?As I continue to grow in my use of GTD®, I’m discovering just how important the trust factor with your system can be.  David Allen says that you need to really trust your system for it to work.  You can say you trust it all you want, but that’s irrelevant.  When it comes down to it, a trusted system works and a semi-trusted system doesn’t.

So what does it mean to really trust your system?  I have a few thoughts.

Trust it like a Christian should trust God
You may or may not believe in God, but the point still works.  Andy Stanley gave a great analogy for how a Christian should trust in God.  He held up the stool he was sitting on and said to trust in it.  To trust in the stool means to sit ON it.  Not on the edge.  Not with your feet on the ground a little bit.  On it with your full weight.  You might be nervous at first, but over time you’ll learn to trust the stool completely.

Trust it like you should trust your spouse
If you’ve been married, you can understand this.  Saying you trust your spouse is one thing.  Really trusting your spouse is another.  For a marriage to really work, you need to completely trust in your spouse.

GTD is the same way
If you don’t really trust the system, then you can never have a “mind like water”.  I’ve found that as I’ve learned the system works and I can trust it, anything I put into it is instantly out of my head.  Getting the junk out of your head is the key to focusing on the task at hand, and GTD is a great way to get it done.  Whether you use software, a website, your PDA or just pen and paper, make sure you use a system that you can trust completely.

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Here are my thoughts…

1. Distrust Your System!!!

A time management system should never be trusted to produce the same results over time.  Many things change — technology advances from year to year, people undergo life changes such as promotions, having children, getting married etc.  The time management system you developed and used last year might not work this year given a change in jobs.

We need to be vigilant for the times when our systems need to be overhauled, and always be on the lookout for upgrade possibilities.  (If you have ever met someone who designed a time management system in the 1950’s and is still using it, you’ll understand what I mean.)

2.  Make Sure It’s a System You Can Upgrade

I’d say it’s better to make sure that your system has an upgrade path, otherwise be prepared to be stuck in something like Windows 95.  Thankfully, Microsoft tries (and sometimes succeeds) in putting out good upgrades, and it would be weird for them to announce that they have perfected Windows, and as a result no further upgrades will be required.

If your time management system cannot be upgraded, then you have a real problem.

3.  Understand that Your System is Fallible

While the idea of everyone following the same system in the same way is attractive to some, I imagine that most people aren’t interested in trusting any particular system to the point where they believe that it can’t be improved, or is somehow without shortcomings.

The fact is, time management systems are human creations that were invented to fulfill human needs that only exist in this world.  According to Einstein, time doesn’t even exist as an absolute phenomena, much less the systems that we put together made up of habits, practices and rituals in order to try to manage it.

(Turns out, we can’t really even do that…  See my post on the reasons why “time management” is a misnomer.)

A car is also a man-made system and its performance has little to do with how much we trust, or semi-trust it.

Time management systems are no different.

In a nutshell, it’s a vain person who thinks that his/her time management system is perfect.

 

Mission Control Productivity, FranklinCovey, GTD and Getting Things Done are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company (davidco.com.)  2Time is not affiliated with or endorsed by the David Allen Company, Mission Control Productivity or FranklinCovey.

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The Idea I’m Really Excited By – A Smorgasbord!

What the survey I conducted confirmed for me is a hunch I have had that people need a lot more help in implementing their time management improvements.

Only 5% said No to the question: “If you had the right support system, could you make any change you wanted to your time management system?”

Along with the other survey results I shared earlier, it’s clear to me that people are disheartened at their inability to implement the good ideas they find on their own, or learn in training courses.

What people are looking for is a way to take even the most innocuous tip that they find, and reliably put it into play in their lives.  While the tip/idea might have some merit, it’s only those who are able to test them with actual implementation that are likely to be satisfied.

An important part of a good support system would be one that tells them the truth about the size of the challenge they have undertaken. It would radically increase the odds that they could accomplish their goal.

Also, one of the other findings from the survey is that people are more interested in upgrades, than in entirely new systems.

54% said that their systems were in need of continuous improvement, and 20% said that they were interested in  small improvements.  Furthermore, only 16% said that they were not interested in upgrading their time management system at this point in time.

It made me think that people want a way to preserve the progress they have made with their current time management systems, without a need to throw away the practices and habits they are using.  In other words, they don’t want to hear that their current system is crap, and that they need to chuck it all away in order to make an improvement.

This implies that they need a way to understand their current system, to see where it’s working and where it’s not, so that they can make the upgrades that they want.

This is a big one for me.

You may have noticed a change in my thinking on this blog, as reflected in the language I use to describe what Time Management 2.0 is all about.  In my older posts, I wrote a lot about “creating a time management system.”

Built into my first posts was an assumption that has become more important — knowing your current skill level (i.e. your current belt level) is critical to creating a new system.

What I have made much more obvious is the fact that no-one is starting from scratch, or from zero, so it’s more accurate to use the word “upgrade” than “create.”

This small difference has gotten a lot of positive feedback, as I believe that most people are interested in improving their time management systems, and don’t want to be locked into any one system or another.  Instead they want the freedom to sample different approaches, and choose what they like from each.

A smorgasbord.

This is the very opposite of those who insist that following time management system “XYZ” means marching in a military-like lock-step to its prescribed practices.  They insist that it’s adherents must learn to execute each and every step exactly as it’s designed, following the prescription down to the last letter.

I’m sure that this approach works for some people…

I suspect that most people are interested in getting to the point where they make up their own minds, rather than simply following another person’s opinions.

This is how I read the data that I collected in the survey — am I reading too much into it?
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A Surprising Convergence

air-jordan-retro-7-18.jpgOne of the surprising results of the survey those who sell commercial time management systems are all starting to sound alike, and make things seem too easy.

Only 24% disagreed with the statement “most commercial time management systems are essentially saying the same things.”

This made me think that there is some convergence happening between the different systems that are sold, whether it be online, in books or in seminars.  Users apparently come to the learning experience expecting to hear the same old thing they have heard before.

Perhaps this is the natural result of the same ideas being shared back and forth.  As far as I can tell, there has been no breakthrough research in this area, for reasons I have written about before.

The other interesting finding is that some 46% said “No” to the question of whether or not teachers of time management tips, lessons and techniques give an accurate picture of how easy/hard implementation will be?  Only 19% agreed.

This one is understandable, I think.

When someone is trying to sell a particular time management system, the idea is to promise the maximum results possible based on a small investment of time, energy and money.  It’s easy to overstate the benefit and understate the cost.

The fact is, changing habits is difficult, slow work.  However, I don’t think there are too many people who are interested in that approach if they have a  choice.  They’d rather purchase some Air Jordans in order to instantly “be like Mike,” rather than spend the hours in the gym that is required.

To me, this explains the fascination with “time management tips.”  It rests on a hope that big improvements will somehow come from implementing one or two easy, effortless tips.

At the same time, only a small number had the experience of being excited about a time management technique they had learned (9%.)  This makes me think that most people are interested in being more productive, but simply ineffective at making the transition.
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We All Need More Help

0percentfinancing.jpgIt appears that few people have the discipline that’s necessary to implement any time management system, and that they desperately wish they had it.

Based on the short survey that many visitors to my blog completed last week, here are some of the results that respondents reported:

A whopping 68% blamed their failure to implement some piece of their time management system on themselves.

Only 17% attributed it to a lack of support, and only 13% said it was due to the quality of the ideas they were trying to implement.

That’s a LOT of guilt IMHO.

Furthermore, when asked for more details on the cause, 50% said it was due to a lack of discipline, while 18% said that they simply “lost their commitment.”

When asked about their success rate in implementing new techniques,  only 10% reported that they had never failed while 12% said that they had rarely failed.

To sum it all up, the message seems to be that “there’s a lot of failure, the blame is almost all mine and it’s because I’m not disciplined enough to follow through on my commitments.”

I’m also bearing in mind that the kind of people who would come to my blog to answer a time management survey are likely to be the most disciplined and motivated in society, as shown by the response to this question: ” Are you the kind of person who is always looking to take at least one aspect of your life to the next level?”

Some 59% Strongly Agreed,  while those who Disagreed or Strongly Disagreed with the statement totaled exactly 0%!

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A Study of Caribbean Time Management

negril01.jpgAs I have often said, my inspiration for this blog comes from a move I made from Hollywood, Florida, USA to live here in Jamaica.

If you are from outside the Caribbean,  you probably have an impression that the whole idea of living in the Caribbean is that time isn’t an issue at all… “No Problem, Man!”

The fact is that tourists to our region absolutely, definitely want a laid-back stress-less experience.  They want to feel as if time, deadlines and schedules simply don’t matter.

However, there is an irony that I recently explored in a time management course I led in the Bahamas.

Tourists want the experience of being laid-back, but they don’t sloppy execution while they have that experience.

In other words, their time management might go to hell for the 10 days they are on vacation, but they want the restaurant to open up on time, and to have everything on the menu available, and to be fully staffed.

The don’t want to hear that the restaurant is closed because half the staff is stoned, and sitting on a beach somewhere.

This paradox is one that lies at the heart of the Caribbean tourist product, and many visitors are willing to tolerate a bit of slack execution, but not a whole lot.

To put it in 2Time terms, they don’t want to find out that the whole bunch of white belts are running around behind the scenes ruining things for everyone.

With that in mind, I have been tackling the unique challenges we have here in the Caribbean when it comes to time management.

To be honest, this is the kind of stuff  that’s not normally shared far and wide, and some people would rather that I not address issues like the impact that 400 years of slavery has had on our people’s time management.

Nevertheless, I imagine that some would find the article and/or the podcast pretty interesting, as it does give a peek inside a culture that is typically hidden from the world.  While Bob Marley and others have done a great job sharing some aspects of Jamaican culture in particular, many of the hot button issues are things that don’t make it into the music.

Click here to be taken to the article and the podcast “The Problem of Caribbean Time.”

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Musings from the Drawing Board

learning-graph.jpg

Talk about a work-in-progress.  Long before my recent survey, I thought that the original problem that people had was that the quality of the available time management ideas was simply not good enough.

Based on the results of the survey, I am now quite convinced that the challenges that people have in upgrading their time management systems have nothing to do with the quality of the ideas they have learned from books, courses, websites, etc.  Instead, it has a great deal to do with what happens once they learn the ideas.

Once the Period of Learning is over, there is a Honeymoon Phase during which people are able to sustain what they have learned.  After a while, a few are able to continue making progress, while others fall off into continuing their old habits.

Here at the 2Time blog I have been able to create a set of flexible ideas that can help a professional to grow from one point to another in their career.  No longer do they need to be stuck at any particular point, or in any system that someone else has created.

That turns out to have been a useful start.

It has been useful to the handful of people who are strong enough to take an idea and run with them.

Most people, however, don’t have that skill.  Instead, the survey results showed that they find themselves in a peculiar place at the end of the book, course or whatever learning method they used.  They have learned some new ideas, and are often turned on by them.  (See the HoneyMoon Phase in the graph above.)

It turns out to be the phase just before the greatest failure for most people, in which they revert to the old habits that they have been using for years.

What can be done to help more learners overcome the failure rate, which I estimate to be as high as 90%?

This is why I’m now at the drawing board, looking for ways to fill the gap.  I am hoping that if I design the MyTimeDesign 2.0 program from the survey results, that it will help.

Tune in for more of the actual survey results.

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Survey on Upgrading Your Time Management System

istock_000002312528xsmall.jpgClick here to enter the survey

While I have written a great deal about the benefits of upgrading rather than replacing one’s time management system, I have wondered why there is no-one else echoing the sentiment consistently.

I am hoping that this survey will help.

It consists of 15 questions, and the intent is for me to learn a thing or two about people’s experience in implementing time management improvements.

I plan to share the most important results here on the blog, and also on the 2Time Facebook page.

Take a moment to fill out the survey, and to pass it on to others.

Click here to enter the survey

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A New Hypothesis

tom_hanks_cast_away.jpgIn the past few weeks I have been giving some serious thought to what is missing in most time management programs.

I now think it’s pretty simple — most people love the ideas they hear in the seminar/book/website, and there seems to be some convergence of ideas in all the systems that I am aware of.

This is good.

From a 2Time point of view, they are covering more and more of the fundamentals of time management, and presenting complete systems that make sense.  This kind of cross-fertilization is a good thing, and I certainly have benefited from ideas presented in a variety of places, starting with those learned in graduate school.

However, good ideas are not enough.

While everyone might leave a seminar, close the book or click out of a website and love what they have read,  the typical reader would still end up failing to implement what they learned.

The reason?

One piece of the puzzle is that they don’t understand that they are working to change a complex system of habits that they are already using, and not starting from a blank canvas, which is what the gurus seem to assume.  They compare learning their systems to learning a martial art, an analogy I happen to like, and use.

However, learning a new time management system is a bit like having a green belt in karate and then deciding to learn judo.  The very little I know about the martial arts suggests that there are more than a few habits that would have to be un-learned to make the transition.  Someone who is making the transition could hardly be expected to do so by simply reading a judo book.

In like manner, it’s easier to learn a new language when you it’s your very first language.  Un-learning the habits of pronunciation and grammar take some time, and only a few adults are able to speak a second language like a native without years of practice.

The key to both transitions is the practice, support and the community that’s required.

The same applies to those who learn new time management techniques.  There are lots of sources of good ideas… but how do I get the practice I need to become a master?

My new hypothesis is simple: more people would be successful in upgrading their time management systems if they had the post-learning support that is required to make the transition to higher levels of mastery.

Left on their own, there are a few who are able to generate the discipline that’s needed to develop and master complex skills.  Tom Hanks in the movie “Castaway” comes to mind.  An executive teaches himself survival, navigation and sailing skills in order to escape from a desert island.

Most of us would have probably not made it off the island, however, and a LOT of us would not have learned the survival skills to last a month!

Luckily for us, technology is changing rapidly, and it’s becoming easier and less costly to construct the kind of communities needed to support us in learning new time management skills.  The cost, energy and time to do the following are plummeting:

  • find people of like mind and commitment
  • get coaching quickly
  • discover insights and shortcuts on implementing new habits
  • set up automatic tracking mechanisms that don’t require personal effort (e.g. a trainer that calls you at 5:00 am each morning to come to the gym)
  • create leverage using incentive$
  • put together plans for gradual change over time that are realistic, and don’t require miracles
  • use the best new ideas as soon as they are discovered
  • develop back-up plans
  • join teams with people who are at a similar stage of development, and won’t let you quick
  • assistance in setting up new rituals
  • have chances to connect with higher goals, life-purpose and whatever higher power they happen to believe in

Anyone who is familiar with what it takes to break or create new habits will recognize some of the results of the latest research embedded in the above list.  With the internet, these are much easier to set up.

My thinking is that one of the versions of my next custom program, MyTimeDesign 2.0, will provide this kind of support to anyone who wants it.

So, what do you think?  Is this a hypothesis that makes sense?

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Employee Use Policies on Blackberrys, Cell Phones & PDAs

I just received the following invitation to join this US$199 conference call.

I was wondering how long it would take for companies to start to limit the “always on” culture that smartphones have created.

Perhaps fear of litigation will “help” employees to better manage their time.


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Dear Francis Wade,

 

For those concerned with how to effectively create and enforce employee cell phone use policies, you are invited to join us for a leading 60-minute audio conference:

 

“Cellphones, Blackberries & PDAs: Employee Use Policies You Need Now”

Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET http://www.pb-conferences.com/M1/0/2/p3X4DRc/p3GWR4TRi/p0e

 

Your employees rely on Blackberries, PDAs, smart phones, cell phones and remote access to keep them connected to their work. Employers face new liability risks on wage and hour issues, confidentiality breaches, inappropriate use of equipment, and safety concerns. Is a connected employee ever off the clock? When are employers liable for accidents caused by workers distracted when using work cell phones? Join us for this 60-minute audio conference where you will discover:

 

**  Keys to drafting effective cell phone policy

**  Keys to handling employees who are ALWAYS on personal calls

**  Tricky FLSA issues & employees’ use of mobile devices

**  Monitoring Employee Use of Technology: What’s Legal: What’s Not

 

Your Expert Presenter:

Daniel McCoy, Esq. is a partner at Fenwick & West LLP. Mr. McCoy’s practice emphasizes employment litigation and counseling for employers throughout the country.