MyTimeDesign – Page 3

January 6, 2010

My 20 Free Videos Available Now

I have been working my buns off during the Christmas “break” to put together 20 videos on some of the my best ideas on time management that I could fit into 3 minutes each.

All this while on “vacation” in Ocho Rios, Jamaica at a place called Oracabessa. My grandfather built it when was alive, and it turned out to be a good place to work from given his strong entrepreneurial tendencies that apparently got passed on to me!

Anyways, the whole thing started off as an easy-seeming fun assignment that looked as if it might take a couple of hours.

A week later and I was still working at it — I couldn’t believe how long it was taking and I started to think that I must be doing something wrong.

The Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) About Time Management

plus

The Top 10 Questions that People Should Be Asking (SAQ’s) About Time Management

To access the free videos, (and the transcript,) registration is required.

Click here to access the page to register to receive the videos immediately http://mytimedesign.com/20vidsnow

It’s a big piece of work and I tried to say something that’s new, or hardly being said, outside the 2Time blog. I’d love to get your feedback either here or on YouTube or Vimeo.

P.S. Big thanks to Mike Koenigs for providing the inspiration to do this series.

January 1, 2010

An Insight from Doing 20 Videos

I am just putting the finishing touches on 20 videos that I put together to answer many of the questions that I get on time management here on the blog, or in my live programs.

I realized that when someone takes a time management program, they might already be working on implementing some new habits.

These habits might have come from a prior program, a book, a website or just their own discovery but it’s probably a mistake for anyone trying to teach them a new system to convince them to “fuhgetaboudit” (forget about it.)

The first big mistake is to assume that the system they are currently using doesn’t exist. This is one that I have mentioned more than a few times on this blog.

The second mistake is to think that they have not already been engaged in upgrading their current system. The chances are that if they are smart, they are not thinking about time management for the first time in their lives, and already have some habits that are half-formed.

The key is to figure out which ones are being learned, and to determine whether or not they should be turned into full fledged habits as part of a Master Habit Plan.

What’s a Master Habit Plan?

Well, I just made the term up a few minutes ago, but it’s something that I have been writing about here on the blog. It’s simply a list of the habits that are:

being implemented
under consideration for the future
planned for future implementation with set practice dates

As these habits are put in place, they steadily upgrade a time management system in a way that makes sense and increases the chances for success.
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November 5, 2009

Musings from the Drawing Board

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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October 22, 2009

A New Hypothesis

In 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?

April 29, 2009

MyTimeDesign Offer Ends Tomorrow

I originally planned to offer the US$1 – 30 day trial of MyTimeDesign until April 30th, but I have changed my mind and will yield to my better instincts.

I am going to close MyTimeDesign to new registrations as of May 1st.

There are so many enhancements that I’d like to make, that the best thing to do is to re-think how the program is offered to the public, and to implement many of the suggestions I have received since the product was launched.

There are also a variety of “flavors” I have wanted to offer for some time, and some new tools I have wanted to add to the program. I also am contemplating the creation of a 6-week offering that will give users a quicker introduction to the essential fundamentals.

To help me make the right changes, in a week or two, I’ll be inviting all subscribers to complete a simple survey. I am eager to hear how I can help you create and implement your own custom time management systems.
[email_link]

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.

September 24, 2008

MyTimeDesign Launched Today

It’s been a long time coming, but here it is.

For the past few months, I have been working on crafting the 2Time principles into a single 12 week program that teaches users how to design their own time management systems, and actually takes them through a single cycle of the entire process.

The page that describes the program can be found here: http://mytimedesign.com

As is the norm in taking on new challenges, I discovered a steep learning curve in building the infrastructure for the ordering and fulfillment of the program.

Actually designing the content was the easy part which involved pulling together the text, audios and videos that are used to make up each lesson. I learned that my initial expectations were simply inaccurate!

I hope to meet you in the program, or in the discussion forums restricted to graduates of the course.

P.S. There is an early-bird discount for acting soon.

July 31, 2008

MyTimeDesign Online Program to be Launched Soon

Over the past few months I have been running a free trial for friends of mine to test my 12-week program — MyTimeDesign.

The results have been good, according to my group of “testers.” With the help of the 2-day programs I have been running in Kingston and Port of Spain, I have developed and refined some ways to help users in crafting their own time management systems.

I plan to launch the program in mid-September as a limited launch at a modest price. Stay tuned for further developments in this regard.

P.S. The best way to be notified of the exact date of opening is to sign up for my free e-book at top left – “An Introduction to the 2Time Management System.”