Category: Theory

Thankfully, 2Time conflicts with none of the other time management systems that I am aware of, and actually should enhance the way in which they are presented to users at all levels.

The best system that I am aware of is Getting Things Done (GTD®) by David Allen.

The limitation of GTD and other systems is not that the ideas are not good, which they are. Instead, the problem is that they each represent a single set of strategies.

I liken it to a particular kind of music that you can get from using an equalizer (a device used to balance the different frequencies of sound to produce a particular quality of music). One can set the knobs to enhance reggae music (with lots of bass), rock music (with a lot more treble) or to clearly hear an audio recording, which involves enhancing the frequency for spoken sound and dampening the others. Continue reading “2Time and Other Time Management Systems”

Prescriptions are pretty useful when they come from a doctor. However, they are dangerous when they come from a time management guru.

For example, one guru went so far as to require that users redefine everyday words such as “Now”, “Occasion” and “Concern”. The result was predictable – language that is difficult to learn is quickly lost when too much of it is thrown at an adult learner too quickly.

The problem that a guru has is that in two days, they attempt to cram 6 days of material (or months, or years) into the heads of students who are hearing the concepts for the first time. The “better” the guru, the more the concepts. Continue reading “The Problem with Prescriptions”

If it’s one thing that you know about draining a swamp, it’s that once you start draining it, you don’t know what you are going to find.

The water level lowers, and the tallest stump reveals itself. It lowers some more, and the second tallest stump can then be seen. The process continues until the water is completely gone, which in a swamp may never happen.

A 2Time user faces the same challenge.

Once a user discovers the principles of 2Time and starts to practice the discipline of time management with a view to personal improvement, they find that they must work on, say “Capturing” first. Once they make some headway with this element, then another element becomes the next important one to work on, and so on.

The game can be played in this way, and it may never end.

The only warning is that the 11 Basic Elements of 2Time are the paramount structure that is being managed and improved over time. Other interesting distractions may arise, but they need to be understood in the larger context.

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”

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”

Recently, blogger Ben Yoskovitz created a meme to create a list of the 100 best productivity tips, under the title “The Ultimate Guide to Productivity.”

Over 100 people submitted their tips, and perhaps I won’t be too late in submitting my own tip to the list (which I understand is still open).

My tip is a bit different.

Francis’ Ultimate Tip: Ignore All Tips

The problem that most people have with being productive is that they spend too much time on tips, and not enough time on the fundamentals. The problem with the field of time management is that there are millions of tips flying around, but no understanding of the basic, fundamental and unalterable structure of the challenge.

It is little like trying to play basketball professionally by taking all the tips that every coach gives, and trying to make them work together. Here is an example of a basketball tip:

Continue reading “The Ultimate Guide to Productivity Submission”

As explained in the post on Time Demands, each Time Demand is made up of some kind of trigger, plus a commitment. For example, that sock lying in the corner represents a Time Demand with the trigger being a visual sighting of the sock, and the commitment perhaps being the desire to have a clean room.

A Time Demand is the basic element of the 2Time Management system.

The 2Time system is all about recognizing Time Demands for what they are and treating them in a very specific manner. They are the smallest elements of a time management system, but they need to be understood differently from the system as a whole.

In the book “Stumbling on Happiness“, Dan Gilbert states:

“In general, many of us have the mistaken idea that large numbers are like small numbers, only bigger. As such, we expect them to do more of what small numbers do, but not anything different. Continue reading “The Half-Life of Time Demands”

One of the goals of the 2Time Management system is to once and for all separate the tons of advice with respect to time management and productivity thinking, and differentiate what is essential from what is merely useful.

The fact that there is precious little research on time management techniques is a travesty, and one of the results is that there seems to be no disciplined way to think about time management. At the moment, the different individuals that present their ideas on time management seem to be more interested in presenting what they think of as their “final solutions” rather than in understanding the underlying structure of all systems of personal productivity. Continue reading “Giving the questions rather than the answers”