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Time Tracking

I have been testing a new software programme that I discovered a few weeks ago that tracks time management use by taking and storing snapshots of the screen at different intervals.

I have been tracking my time for several years, and due to my habit of filling out my time sheet only twice (or less) per week, I have been less than happy. At the end of some weeks, I would stare at the time sheet with disbelief, because I could not recall what I did just the day before.

Uconomix Snaplogger takes care of faulty memories. You can tune it to take a shot every few minutes, if desired (I have mine set to every 5 minutes). Then, it shows what happened during the day in enough detail to fill out a time card with much more accuracy.

It is a very handy tool.

Did I mention that the free version does everything that I need?

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Deliberate Practice

In the article “The Making of an Expert”, the author also makes the case that deliberate practice involves two kinds of learning:

“[…] improving the skills you already have and extending the reach and range of your skills. The enormous concentration required to undertake these twin tasks limits the amount of time you can spend doing them.”

These are useful distinctions for the 2Time user.

The author makes the points that

“[…] musicians over 60 years old who continue deliberate practice for about ten hours a week can match the speed and technical skills of 20-year-old expert musicians when tested on their ability to play a piece of unfamiliar music.”

Again, this is good advice for the executive who refuses, for example, to use a PDA of any kind and is forced to lower levels of productivity.

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Measuring Success in 2Time

In the HBR article, “The Making of an Expert”, referred to in my last post, the author makes the case that “real expertise must pass three tests“, and I think that these three tests must also be applied to the 2Time system in a variety of ways.

“First, it must lead to performance that is consistently superior to that of the expert’s peers. Second, real expertise produces concrete results. Brain surgeons, for example, not only must be skillful with their scalpels but must also have successful outcomes with their patients. A chess player must be able to win matches at tournaments. Finally, true expertise can be replicated and measured in the lab.”

This has made me wonder. What are the measurable outcomes that expertise in time management should produce? Continue reading “Measuring Success in 2Time”

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Death of a Thousand Tips

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There are a number of time management websites that exist, all offering thousands of tips.

To read them all, however, is to do oneself a disservice and create a distraction, if that is where one starts in an attempt to improve productivity. The effect is the same as trying to build a skyscraper using construction tips, while being ignorant of the fundamentals. In general, people don’t like the idea of being THAT ignorant, so they focus on the trivial, easy things they can do (like buy a new PDA).

They also blame their own lack of productivity on some gift that they don’t have, claiming that other more productive people are either blessed or naturally effective, or just anal retentive.

Meanwhile, they have less and less of what they want in their lives, and are increasingly less fulfilled and more overwhelmed.

In a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review (July-August 2007), in the article “The Making of an Expert“, Anders Ericsson makes the point that

“New research shows that outstanding performance is the product of years of deliberate practice and coaching, not of any innate talent or skill.” Continue reading “Death of a Thousand Tips”

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Habit Tracker — Joes Goals

I have been using a very simple and very useful habit tracker called Joe’s Goals. It is a very powerful tool that gives a visual display of how well one is doing in learning new habits.

I think there is further scope for applications like this, particularly in Outlook – but I am unable to find any that really work.

In any time management system, it is critically important to find effective ways to unlearn and learn new habits, and having an effective display of progress is only a part of the battle, but an important one.

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Prioritizing Makes No Sense

line-up-height.jpg Almost all popular time management systems make the point that it is important to set priorities.

They argue that people spend a lot of time taking actions that are not the best actions to take at that particular moment in time. The solution is to sit down at regular intervals and to place action items in some kind of rank order.

In 2Time, prioritizing is not a basic element.

Why not?

Because prioritizing using some kind of number or ranking system is a waste of time.

Why?

Continue reading “Prioritizing Makes No Sense”

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The Basic 2Time Elements as “Big Rocks”

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Put In The Big Rocks First!

In “First Things First,” Stephen Covey tells a story that one of his associates heard at a seminar. The seminar presenter pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar and placed it next to a pile of fist-sized rocks. After filling the jar to the top with rocks, he asked, “Is the jar full?”

The group replied, “Yes.”

He then got some gravel from under the table and added it to the jar. The speaker jiggled the jar until the gravel filled the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asked, “Is the jar full?” Continue reading “The Basic 2Time Elements as “Big Rocks””

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Time Management isn’t Time Management

The truth is that time management is nothing of the sort.

Time can’t be managed, in the strictest terms, because a user has no control of this very valuable resource. It has a life of its own, and cannot be affected in the least by anything the user does, unlike other valuable resources such as money, precious metals or people.

What a 2Time user is managing is actually action. “Action management” is what is actually at the heart of the 2Time system. Continue reading “Time Management isn’t Time Management”

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Muscle Memory and Learning Habits

As I get into the task of turning the components of 2Time into a training course, one of of the challenges I have is a common one – how does someone teach themself to learn a new habit?

In other words, once they determine that they want to learn a new habit, what is the environment they need to create that will result in the new action becoming an unconscious one? Furthermore, how is this environment created when the user is at different belt levels for the different components, and therefore at different levels of self-awareness?

There is enough theory to understand that people are different, and respond to different things.

I hope to create something like a menu of options for a user to choose from. Continue reading “Muscle Memory and Learning Habits”

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Open Source

One of the great wishes I have for this site is that it become a place where people can add their thoughts to the discussion of the 2Time philosophy.

The problem that I have found with this invitation is that the websites and blogs that I have read on the topic of productivity are heavily based on piles of small tips. Nothing wrong with the tips (and I happen to think they all have a place) but as I mentioned in a prior post, you can’t become a top time management practitioner by following tips.

I am still hunting around for a deeper discussion than one that is focused on tips. So far, I have had no luck, but I am sure that I have just been unlucky.

So far this blog hasn’t attracted much traffic, but hopefully it will bring to it the kind of people that are interested in joining me to explore the 11 Basic Components of 2Time.

If anyone reading this is interested, we can start by sharing ideas about this content in the comments.