Introduction to 8 Edgy Ideas Special Report

Introduction

I’m often asked what gives me the motivation for writing about time management, and it’s not because I like to repeat the same old boring stuff that other people have been rehashing since time immemorial.

It’s because I like edgy, radical ideas that make a big difference in the lives   of busy working people who are trying their best to improve the way they manage their time.

I imagine that if you downloaded this report that you are someone who has more than a passing interest in your personal productivity, and are looking for a few new ways to take your daily performance to another level.  You may have been exposed to some of the latest ideas, or not, and probably have some ideas of your own.

Or perhaps you are simply curious about what “Time Management 2.0” is all about.

Whatever frame of mind you might be in, I want you to know that the purpose of this report is to meet you exactly where you are in your life, at your current level of productivity.  You might be just starting out with your first attempt to improve your skills. Or, you might be an expert who has been honing your skills for many years.

Regardless of where you are in the spectrum, I can promise you that every single one of the 8 Edgy Ideas applies to you.

That’s an astounding claim, given the fact that we have never met, and probably won’t ever meet.  But here’s what I know: you are using some kind of system, and (like gravity) it is subject to some limitations that are simply facts of life.  None of us escapes the gravitational pull of the Earth, and none of us is able to remember everything that we have to do on every day using just our memory.

There are certain truths that are just….true.

A few years ago as I delved into time management books and websites, trying to get some help in designing a system that would fit my new life in Jamaica, it struck me that those who were teaching time management were ignoring some of these truths about the way their learners were learning.  By ignoring them, they were making it harder for people to benefit and use their ideas.  I realized that behind all the pages, and charts and paper inserts was a fact that most gurus acknowledge quietly:

Time management gurus don’t really expect you to do all the stuff that they tell you to do.

There is no way they could.  They tell you to do too many things all at once, and you are bound to fail to put them all into action within a day, a week, a month or even a lifetime.

You leave the learning event having to make a choice about which aspects to keep and which ones to discard.  The problem I had was a natural one:   “Who helps the learner decide what to use, what to discard, and when?”

I don’t think that it should be me.  Instead, the responsibility lies with you, the professional, but without a knowledge of the truth, you might come to think that something must be wrong with you when you experiences the inevitable failure to implement too many new ideas all at once.

Time Management 2.0 was born with a commitment to put you, the learning professional, back in the driver’s seat, and in charge of your time management system.  This idea is a radical one, and I believe that when it’s told often and early enough, it sets people free.

But free to do what?

In my mind’s eye, if you have read this far, then you probably have an interest in improving some aspect of your time management and personal productivity in one of the following areas.  You want to:

– keep the professional respect you have earned for being efficient even as your job requires you to do more with less
– never be in fear of being late, or having something important fall through the cracks
– get to the end of your day and feel satisfied and accomplished
– have a sense that your work and home life are in balance
– look at all aspects of your life and know that none is being short-changed
– maintain a cool, calm and peaceful frame of mind
– beat the other guy to a promotion because you have become better and faster

You want the freedom to accomplish all your goals and wishes, even as they change from month to month, even in the midst of a recession, and regardless of what life may throw at you.

That’s the commitment behind Time Management 2.0 – to meet you, the user at your current level of skills.  You could be brand new to learning a time management approach, or a veteran who has been honing their practices for years with an insider’s knowledge of several commercial systems.

To do so effectively, you need to determine the answer to this important question:

Do You Have a Static or Dynamic System?

Many years ago I happened to have my mother in a time management class that I taught, long before the days of Time Management 2.0.

I remember being a little disappointed at the end when she told me that she was a retired person, and that she probably wouldn’t be using much of what I had taught.  I argued the point a bit at the time, but it wasn’t until later when I remembered that she had also said that if she were still working, it would have been more useful.

Now, looking back, I realize that she had made a downgrade to her time management system, which is something that I imagine that most people do when they retire.  They change gears now that they have fewer critical time demands to manage, and they change their habit patterns to simpler ones.

At the time, I only taught what are called Static Systems in time management.  They are made up of fixed habit patterns, and set practices, that are developed at some point in time and are meant to be followed exactly as described.  I falsely believed that time management was something that you learned once, and once only, like learning to walk.

It’s a little like figuring out a great recipe for fried chicken, and teaching others to follow it “no matter what.”  If that sounds like a formula for success, then it should, as KFC, McDonalds and many others have followed this formula and made great profits.

By contrast, “Dynamic Systems” are ones that are continuously evolving.  In addition to what’s taught in Static Systems, people also learn how to own, manage and upgrade their time management systems from year to year.  They develop the ability to do so in response to changes in technology, demands on their time, job responsibilities and family obligations.

It’s a little like being able to make your own recipes for fried chicken!

In Time Management 2.0, which is one of the few Dynamic Systems I am aware of, professionals develop these improvement skills and they become theirs for life, and they use them to make intelligent upgrades and downgrades.

One of the major problems in the way time management is taught is that participants are given a Static System, when what they really need is one that is Dynamic.

Which one do you have?

To help you decide, here are the 8 Edgy Ideas that are included in Time Management 2.0, summarized on the next page.  Each Idea is detailed in its own chapter in this special report.

I’d love to get your feedback!  Look for instructions on how to share it on Facebook or on my blog at the end of this report.

Francis

Here are the links to all the pages in this report:

Introduction

Summary: The 8 Edgy Ideas

Edgy Idea #1

Edgy Idea #2

Edgy Idea #3

Edgy Idea #4

Edgy Idea #5

Edgy Idea #6

Edgy Idea #7

Edgy Idea #8

Thanks and Links

This is an excerpt from the Special Report:  8 Edgy Ideas from Time Management 2.0, offered by Francis Wade of Framework Consulting.  We offer the MyTimeDesign online training.