Within the last three years, I moved to Jamaica after living in the U.S.
for twenty years. Now that I am home, as sweet as things are, Irealize that we have a major issue with our lack of productivity.
I know because I faced it myself.
The time management and productivity techniques I had carefully
learned while living in the U.S. did not work as well on Jamaican soil.Life here was too chaotic, there were too many interruptions, and the
excitement of day-to-day life in Kingston meant that I just could notget as much done as I wanted, or used to.
I was forced to go back and re-think what I had learned, and even
taught. You see, six years ago, I played a part in bringing a time
management and productivity programme to the Caribbean. While theideas were sound, what I didn’t realize that there was a cultural gap
between what the designers intended and the users could learn.
It was a classic case of something working abroad that would not workat home without being overhauled, re-examined and re-adapted.
But when I went back to re-think what I had learned, I foundsomething interesting. I actually needed to build a time managementsystem for myself that fit this new circumstance. However, I soon
realized that I didn’t have a good grasp of the fundamental designprinciples.
Someone who knows the design principles in a field can be a very
effective designer. For example, a teacher who knows the principles of
learning can just about design any course. An engineer who knowshow the principles of flight airplanes can design most aircraft – they
know that all aircraft need propulsion, wings, a tail, a certain shape,etc. I happen to be lucky enough to have an engineering background,
so this insight came early on.
I realized quickly that I had no idea what the fundamentals of timemanagement were, and I went looking for help to design my own time
management system for my new Jamaican life.
What I Found Surprised Me
I found nothing.
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In netball, the fundamentals include catching, passing, shooting andpivoting. There is no way to represent Jamaica without mastering
these particular skills, and at the highest levels they are practiced overand over again, regardless of the level of perfection achieved.
A devoted Christian never says a final prayer that ends the need toever pray again. Instead, prayer is a part of their daily devotionalpractice that never ends.
A Belt System is used in Karate, Tae Kwon Do and other martial arts
to show that a practitioner of the sport has moved from one level tothe next. At each level, the skills to be learned require more practice,
and the learning curve only become steeper.
Peace of Mind is simply the goal of any time management system.
Going to bed satisfied that one’s affairs are in order, and that nothingis left out of place is way more important than just working and
working to produce more and more, like a machine.
As human beings, our sense of accomplishment and satisfaction comesfirst, as it affects our entire life with our families, work, hobbies,
friendships and community. With accomplishment and satisfactioncome peace of mind that works in Kingston, Montego Bay or Portland.
Putting a Design Together
As a Jamaican professional, you can use an understanding of the
fundamentals of time management to assemble your own system.
In my research, I identified 11 fundamental components, but the fact
that this e-book is meant to be an introduction to the larger principles,I am only going to focus on the first 7 in this e-book. They are
collectively known as the Major Components.
In addition, I created a new Belt System for time management users
to help them gauge their progress over time. It is meant to assistthem in developing their skills in a structured way that is challenging,and yet is clearly understood. The choice of using the system is yours.
Within each of these 7 Major Components, there are different beltlevels.
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A beginner always starts out as a White belt in any given practice, and
as they learn new skills they improve their ranking within thatpractice. This is true in the martial arts, as a white belt who is learning
“kicking” for the first time, will eventually learn how to kick at differentlevels. They’ll come to see that a White belt kick is not same as a
Green belt kick, even though they probably won’t even understand thedifference in the beginning.
In time management the same is true. The only difference is that
instead of kicking, punching and blocking, they are doing the followingpractices that are at the heart of all time management systems.
The 7 Major Components
1. Capturing
2. Emptying
3. Tossing4. Acting Now
5. Storing6. Scheduling
7. Listing
The rest of this e-book is devoted to giving you a summary of the restof the 7 Major Components, and it will go into detail on what isperhaps the most important Component of all – Capturing.
Here are the 7 Major Components summarized.
1. Capturing: placing time demands in reliable places (capturepoints) for temporary storage, using as few places as possible,
and never using one’s memory!
2. Emptying: moving these time demands from capture pointsinto other parts of the system frequently, and completely
3. Tossing: forgetting about stuff to do that doesn't make sense todo after some consideration
4. Acting Now: immediately executing time demands that can be
completed within 5 minutes5. Storing: placing information that needs to be used later in areliable place (such as an email address or URL)
6. Scheduling: deploying time demands into a calendar7. Listing: sorting numerous time demands into lists that are too
detailed to be scheduled in a calendar (e.g. a grocery list)
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In the last six examples given above, voicemail became only popular
in the 1970’s, email in the 1990’s and instant messages in the newmillennium. With the advance of technology has come a rapid
increase in the number of ways in which new demands of our timeenter our consciousness. What is likely is that in 5 years time there willbe even more new channels for time demands, only increasing theburden on our overloaded time management systems.
To cope with all the different channels we need a set of principles with
which to define the fundamental component of “Capturing,” and a wayto craft our own system of dealing with all the information coming in
our direction.
Capturing is best enabled when:
• the number of capture points is kept to a minimum, by followingit up quickly with the next component: “Emptying”
• the number of items in each point is kept to a minimum• our memory is only used as a capture point as a last resort,
when no other points of Capture are available• at least one capture point is portable and can be taken almost
everywhere
When Capturing is done well, it increases peace of mind by taking thestress out of trying to remember everything. At the higher belt levels,
users actually do no remembering at all .
Here are the practices that correspond to
different levels of mastery of thediscipline of Capturing, taken from the
2Time Management System describedlater in this e-book.
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Here in Jamaica, there are a number of capture points that can be
practically used given our technological options, including thefollowing;
• a paper pad• a cell phone’s voicemail system• a PDA/cell phone blend (e.g. blackberry)• a digital voice recorder
• Inboxes for email
I personally use a small paper pad most of all, and when I find myself without it I merely put a Reminder in my cell phone for later entry. My
Inbox is also a critical capture point, but it is one of the more difficultones to master.
At this point, you made decide to adopt a new Capture Point from theabove list, or something else entirely. What’s most important is that
your Capture Point follows the Key Principles of Capturing, and nothow much it costs.
Email Inboxes as Capture Points
Email Inboxes are notoriously difficult to master, as evidenced by thenumber of people who use them at a White Belt level. Here are theindicators of how an Inbox is used (and abused) at lower belt levels.
White belts have:
• tens, hundreds and even thousands of emails in their Inbox• email that has been read is sitting in the Inbox waiting to be
acted on
• an Inbox that is only emptied once or twice a year• items that get lost in their Inbox. Email goes unanswered. Time
demands are lost, and promises to act slip through the cracks• key information hidden, such as a phone number that takes
forever to find because it is lost in the body of an email that
itself is buried• their email delegated to someone else entirely, and they only
use a fraction of its capability (e.g. to their secretary or spouse.)
The solution to improving Inbox skill lies in a combination of the 11components, and can’t be achieved by mastering Capturing by itself.This is part of what makes the problem so very difficult to fix. It only
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takes a single component to exist at a relatively low belt level to cause
email Inbox problems.
The fact is, the future is only going to bring more and more email, anduntil users master the 11 fundamental components, the way they
manage their Inbox will continue to ruin their Peace of Mind.
Creating Your Own Capturing SystemWith a knowledge of the fundamentals, and the different levels, you
can create the first part of your own time management system. Hereare the steps.
1. Determine the belt level (white, yellow, etc.) at which you arecurrently Capturing
2. Put together 1-2 habits from the next belt level3. Use whatever techniques you can use to remind yourself to
implement the new habit
4. Test yourself at the new belt level, and go back to Step 1
Creating this new habit will be first step that you are taking to createyour own time management system, tailored to your needs.
Next Steps
This e-book is just a start in the journey of improving your ownproductivity in a way that fits your personal environment, andcircumstance.
If you are interested in learning more about Capturing and the other
10 components, the following options are available to you as aJamaican manager:
1. Sign up for the next NewHabits-NewGoals programme inKingston. Follow this link to find out more information on the
specifics of the 2-day course, and how to register. Seehttp://fwconsulting.com/newhabits
2.
Visit the blog that describes these ideas in detail. It has over86 posts on how to develop your own time management systemusing the 11 components described in this e-book. Go to
http://2Time.wordpress.com. While visiting, sign up for updatesto be sent to you via email, by clicking on the link “Click here togo to the Feedblitz site.”
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3. If you have never visited a blog before, view this short video
that gives an introduction to the 2Time blog. Click here to betaken to the 5 ½ minute clip: http://urlcut.com/ja2timevid1
4. The audio portion of the January 2008 Pilot programme that
focuses on Capturing is available as a podcast. It can be eitherheard online by streaming, or by downloading the audio file.Click here to be taken to the 28 minute audio clip:http://urlcut.com/ja2timeaud1. Also, see the slides that
accompany this audio clip at http://urlcut.com/ja2timeslides1.
If you would like to subscribe to get updates to reports in this series,send email to [email protected] if you haven’t already done so.
You will receive a confirmation email that includes a link to be clickedto confirm that your email address is correct. You will then be added
automatically to the list.
Share This with Your Friends!
Your friends and colleagues may want the Peace of Mind that comes
from managing their time well. If so, send this e-book directly tothem, or give them this email address to request this e-book:
