Blog – Page 50 – 2Time Labs

December 12, 2008

Thinking for Yourself

I recently read an article that could be applied in all sorts of areas — politics. organizational change, and even person transformation.

I just finished reading it again, and discovered a solid connectionbetween the its thesis and Time Management 2.0.

The article is a fascinating one, as it speaks to the difficulty of creating one’s own self-theory. It goes further into the notion that a self-theory can only be discovered in practice (rather than in the abstract,) and that it can’t be gained from anyone else… not even for $299.95 (a price of a good program to learn someone else’s self-theory.)

Instead, the article speaks to the challenge of creating for oneself, free from constraints.

There is a joy that exists when one creates in this way, and the authors are right to focus on the process and the results it produces, because people who invent their own time management systems often feel the same way about the process they are undertaking, and the results they produce.

Here is an excerpt:

Therefore, constructing your self-theory is a revolutionary pleasure. It is both a destructive and constructive pleasure, because you are creating a practical theory–one tied to action–for the destruction and reconstruction of this society. It is a theory of adventure, because it is based on what you want from life and on devising the means necessary to achieve it. It is as erotic and humorous as an authentic revolution.

That’s not a bad way to describe the joy that comes from being put back in charge of one’s own time management system for the first time. There is a revolutionary pleasure that comes from designing one’s own time management system that is a bit easier than coming up with one’s own self-theory.

The article is a pretty dense one, and I doubt that all readers of this blog will find it interesting, but if you like abstract thinking, check it out — The Revolutionary Pleasure of Thinking for Yourself.

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December 11, 2008

The Link Between Managing Time and Peace of Mind

I recently wrote an article on the futility of trying to manage one’s time, instead of one’s habits.

I was asked by the folks over at Simpleology.com to address the mistake that many people make when it comes to time management. The article entitled Quit Managing Time and Get Some Peace of Mind can be found by clicking on the link.

Incidentally, Simpleology is perhaps the best online personal development site that one can find at no initial cost. It’s well worth a visit, or better yet, a subscription as the authors are quite generous in what they provide to someone who has committed to giving nothing more than their email address.

December 5, 2008

Learning Time Management is Like Learning a Language

I came across an article on Tim Ferris’ blog on the topic of Why Language Classes Don’t Work: How to Cut Classes and Double Your Learning Rate.

I found it interesting because it parallels my experience in time management courses to some degree.

He makes the following points about problems that he has encountered in language learning classes:

1. Teachers are viewed as saviors when materials are actually the determining factor.

I have found this to be true in my courses. The “teacher” is only there to provide a foil for the materials, and when the materials are badly conceived (as most are) then no matter how good the student is, the new habits are impossible to learn.

Poor course materials in time management that focus on a single set of new habits never work for more than a few students, and the teacher can’t make up for this problem.

2. Classes move as slowly as the slowest student.

In poorly designed classes, when a student cannot understand why a new habit is important, a great deal of time is wasted showing him/her why it’s necessary. Better classes are focused on each student developing systems that work for them, and no-one else. It’s not important to learn the higher skills if they are not at the point of immediate use.

The best classes help students develop and use their skills at a pace that works for them

3. Conversation can be learned but not taught. (read: Time management can be learned but not taught.)

Because time management is built on a collection of personal habits, changing them is entirely up the individual’s willingness, and requires continuous practice to turn a new technique into a habit that can stick. In other words, there’s more to be gained from repetitive trial and error than there is from any explanation or theory. All a good time management class does is point students in the correct direction, and shows them what they need to teach themselves.

4. Teachers are often prescriptive instead of descriptive.

A good teacher of time management never tells a student what they should do, but merely points out the advantages and disadvantages of certain choices. In MyTimeDesign, for example, a student has the choice at every stage of which skill-level to adapt in each discipline.

For example, we need not putt like Tiger Woods to have a golf game that we are satisfied with. Yet, there are many time management systems that will warn students that they MUST follow “the system” according to the way it’s designed, down to the naming of folders, the colour of the tabs on their diary and the names they use for everyday items.

When the user’s needs are placed at the center of a time management program, these 4 traps are much easier to avoid.

December 3, 2008

A Summary of Flow – the Goal of Time Management

The book, Flow, is one that I refer to often in my thinking about time management.

I recently heard a wonderful presentation of the author of the book on the Ted website, given by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

It’s a great summary of the ideas in this book, and I thought that this summary slide was particularly useful. Of course, reading one of his books on the subject would be an even better idea.

The flow state summarized below is a great description of the goal of any time management system. It’s one that allows the user to remain in, or attain the flow state of often as possible.

How Does it Feel to Be in Flow?

1. Completely involved in what we are doing – focused, concentrated.

2. A sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality.

3. Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done, and how well we are doing.

4. Knowing that the activity is doable – that our skills are adequate to the task

5. A sense of serenity – no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of the ego

6. Timelessness – thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes

7. Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces flow becomes it own reward

A good summary of the book, Flow, can be found at this link.

November 26, 2008

Doing Nothing and Getting More Done

I recently read an interesting article written by Marc McGuinness over at the Lateral Action Blog.

In the post he describes how much he learned from spending several days in solitude and absolute quiet at a retreat, and what it did for his awareness, and also his productivity.

I agreed with everything he says wholeheartedly, and he has described my own experience better than I ever could. I also recently spent a day in (mostly) silence as part of a 9-day retreat I attended in which being quiet played an important role.

He makes the important point that meditation’s purpose is not to become more productive, but that it IS a decent side-benefit.

For me, one way in which that’s true is that it boosts what I call awakeness, which is the ability to conduct any activity while maintaining a background understanding of its overall purpose. Without this quality, we stray from living as human beings and act more like human “doings.” Love, joy and peace of mind disappear, soon to be replaced by stress, worry and anxiety.

It’s a great article: How Getting Nothing Done Can Make You More Productive

November 19, 2008

Practice Produces the Best Time Management System

As I have mentioned in other places in this blog, there is a common belief that people who have good time management systems are naturally more organized than others.

However, recent research consistently shows that talent has little to do with it, and it has more to do with consistent, disciplined practice than anything else.

In his new book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell makes the same point on this video:

Malcolm Gladwell’s video on practicing producing performance

November 18, 2008

New Employees and Their Time Management Systems

In my wildest imaginings I can picture a new employee who, in their orientation, is taught that they must develop their own time management system if they hope to get ahead in the company.

They could learn in just a few minutes that:
1. the time management system they have been using up until now has successfully gotten them to this place

2. at some point in their career they will find that the practices that they are using are insufficient

3. at that point, they will have to reinvent their system, and they should not be shy about using whatever resources they can find for assistance

4. this evolution will not happen by accident, and they need to be proactive, and always be assessing how well their system matches their needs

This would help the employee to join in the forefront of the revolution that’s afoot — the personal design and implementation of custom time management systems. While the practice will be old hat at some point, the idea is a new one for employees as there is no point in their careers at which they would have been taught the fundamentals of time management.

It could be one of those career-changing discoveries that might not produce a behavior change in the moment, but could make a big difference in years to come.

November 14, 2008

New NewHabits Design

I am considering a change to the way in which I conduct my live programs.

The current NewHabits-NewGoals programs that I offer in the Caribbean are 2-day affairs that give a user everything they need to design their own time management system. The essential activity is a series of 12 design steps which they construct a custom system of their own, using their own habits as the starting point.

The challenge that many find is that it’s difficult to put together a plan for themselves that include this many elements, as they are forced to use a slightly advanced project management skill that is not taught in the class.

Also, it’s a lot of new data thrown at them all at once, even though I believe it to be easier to work with than the average time management class.

This has lead me to think that I should cut the live content down to the 7 essential fundamentals, introduce them to the basic ideas behind habit changing, and then take them straight into the MyTimeDesign program (a 12-week, online program.)

In that program they would have an immediate choice: repeat the info they learned in the course at a slower pace, or move onto the advanced fundamentals.

In this way, I could cut the price of the cost for customers, and more closely match their pace of learning with the materials that are presented. In other words, they could ease themselves into the advanced fundamentals at their own pace, over several weeks, after they have already worked on putting together the essentials of their time management system.

This matches what I have observed in the class — a certain loss of focus by the second day as participants start to feel a bit overwhelmed by too many new ideas.

To those of you who have completed NewHabits-NewGoals, I’d love to hear from you.

November 12, 2008

Unconscious Time Management Systems

Every single human being is using some kind of time management system, whether they are aware of it nor not.

The above statement is one of the core principles of Time Management 2.0, and I think I am on firm ground in saying that everyone who comes to this blog is using some kind of system at this very moment.

At some point in the average day, we consider a mental or written list of actions that we’d like to complete, and make some decisions about the amount of time we have at our disposal. We know intuitively that we must make choices, and in the average day we are unlikely to get “everything” done, unless we define “everything” to be the same as “nothing” or “close to nothing.”

The habits that we use to make these choices, execute them, and think about them afterwards comprise the elements of our time management system.

I have surmised from anecdotal evidence that most users develop their systems as teenagers. That they do so without guidance can be a problem. The problem comes when their life commitments overwhelm their systems, and they don’t know how to respond.

This can happen slowly, such as the case of a steady increase in job responsiblities. Or, it can happen suddenly with a big life change, such as a promotion, or getting married. Iin either case there is a palpable feeling of being overwhelmed and burdened. Some will bury their heads, others will complain and a few will try to escape their obligations by retreating in some way.

And perhaps most will simply take time away from other things such as their job, their family or their leisure-time, in order to get the most important things done.

In essence, they only have one way to do things, and often believe that the answer to the problem is to buckle down and do more of what they always do.

The “more” often takes the form of making decisions to procrastinate less, try harder, be more focused, get serious, apply themselves, etc. These approaches rarely work, because a time management system built for a 19 year old does not work for the same person at age 39 because the system is being mis-applied, rather than because of a character flaw. Feelings of guilt and frustration are the kind of feelings that come from these kinds of unworkable improvements.

When users understand a few basics of Time Management 2.0, however, life becomes much simpler.

Basic #1: I am using a time management system that I developed for a prior time in my life

Basic #2: I can upgrade my time management system to fit my current commitments and habit-style

Basic #3: Once I upgrade, I will only benefit if I manage the system on a continuous basis and revisit my design when the need arises

Users who becomes conscious, in other words, gives themselves a gift of expanded choices, so that they can escape the self-blame and guilt that is often experienced as their lives become increasingly complex.

November 10, 2008

Experimenting with Time Management Systems

I read a tremendous article recently that captures the importance of experimenting more eloquently than I ever could.

I found it in the April 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review and it is entitled “Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life,” and written by Stewart Friedman.

The authors divides a professional’s life into four separate areas — work, home, community and self — and urges employees and leaders alike to undertake focused improvement projects in each area. Each project is given a start and an end date, and only a few are to be attempted at any one time in order to ensure that one’s energy isn’t dissipated.

Also, by attempting these projects, he points out that people can take the leadership lessons learned from one area into all areas. This is because we all live interconnected lives, and there is a non-linear magic that occurs in someone’s life when a true improvement takes place.

Imagine for instance someone who decides to partake in a community project, in order to help them try some new time management skills. They could quite deliberately accept a leadership role in order to test themselves, to see what happens with their ability to manage a new volume of work.

If this idea sounds familiar to frequent readers of the blog, then it should.

2Time is built on the idea of continuous experimentation, and the truth is that building your own time management system can only be done well with the kind of focus the author describes.

In the old world of time management, the instructions were simple to give, but hard to follow. Authors and gurus simply said: “Follow me.” And, “if you have difficulty doing so, try harder.”

That was essentially it.

In Time Management 2.0 the reality is very different. In order to design a time management system that works for you you need to constantly experiment with different approaches, in order to discover your default habit patterns. Unless you are lucky enough to have a handbook somewhere that describes your habits in detail, you are likely to be venturing into new territory.

This is not a problem, as long as you have some tolerance for the trial and error process that comes with self-discovery. Also, it’s important to know that this self-knowledge is only a means to an end — a personally customized time management system.

What I realized while reading this article is that a professional who takes the effort to design their own time management system is likely to see an improvement in all areas of their life at the same time. This is likely to occur because people who undertake this kind of design end up creating systems that allow them to relax into the flow state for longer and longer periods of time.

This is true whether or not they are reading a book, talking to their children, replying to a tricky email or attending a meeting. They are simply able to invent a method that allows themselves to give 100% more often than those who are stuck in unconscious time management systems.

The author gives a few tips on how to design the best experiments. He advocates creating experiments that “feel like something of a stretch: not too easy, not too daunting. It might be something quite mundane for someone else, but that doesn’t matter. What’s critical is that you see it as a moderately difficult, challenge.”

Furthermore, he advises that once users have gotten started with a few projects, that they be open to constant adaptation. In this way, there is no such thing as failure. Whether goals are achieved or not, there is something important to be learned, and one’s life can be transformed in both cases.

Also, it turns out that there is no such thing as small or unimportant experiments. They all make a contribution towards the greatest of changes.

I have found that users who are confronted by the idea of building a time management system for their own, benefit greatly when they take the approach of breaking the project down into small steps, and sequence the steps they are planning to take over time. This prevents the overload that comes from taking the typical time management program in which hundreds of new habits are introduced in a torrent that drowns most participants.

It’s a great article, and it can be purchased from hbr.org and searching for reprint R0804H.