2time capturing - time management for jamaican professionals
TRANSCRIPT
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2Time Capturing
A Time Management Fundamental forJamaican Professionals
By Francis Wade
These materials may not be reproduced, publicly displayed,
or used to create derivate products in any form without
prior written permission from:
Framework Consulting Inc.
3389 Sheridan Street #434Hollywood, FL 33021, USA
29 Norbrook DriveKingston 8, Jamaica
954-323-2552 / 876-880-8653
www.fwconsulting.com
© 2008 Framework Consulting Inc.
All rights reserved
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Introduction
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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I was shocked to see that all that was “out there” were individualsselling their own individual approaches. What’s worse, was that they
expected people to adopt their systems, with their cultural biases,personal preferences, peculiar idiosyncrasies and all.
There was absolutely no help being offered to design a timemanagement system of one’s own.
I was annoyed at first, but then I went the next step and startedwriting. To cut a long story short, the result of that writing is this e-
book to help you, the Jamaican manager or professional, to design atime management system of your own.
Where Do You Start?
In order to build a time management system (it’s really not that hard)we need some building blocks.
Let’s start with a few definitions.
A Time Demand is anything that your mind decides is important, and
deserves an expenditure of energy, time and effort. Here are someexamples of the inner and external dialogues that create timedemands.
Examples:
“I need a manicure” “I should lose five pounds this year”
“Don’t worry kids, I’ll be home early tonight so we can watch the
show” “Don’t you dare forget my birthday again next year”
“Bus strike? Today! Yuh mad…” “These tax people are crazy –I cannot owe them this much”
“What yuh mean the car won’t start?”
A Fundamental Practice is a basic building block of any physical ormental activity. It makes up the core or essential components that
must be mastered, and practiced until they become habits.
For example, in cricket the basic shots in batting are the forwarddefensive stroke, and the backward defensive stroke. All the other
strokes are built on these fundamentals.
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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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Capturing
Capturing is simply the action of storing a timedemand at the moment of creation in a safe, buttemporary place, for later use.
To understand the component it’s best to slow down a
single capture process that occurs perhaps hundredsof times in a day of the average professional.
The process starts with the moment of creation,which is always a mental decision to DO something
new. The feeling or thought is triggered, and itdoesn’t go away until the task is done.
The triggering event might be anything, including a conversation youhave, a book you are reading or a flat tire you just got — anything
that triggers a thought in your mind that something needs to be doneat some point in the near or distant future. There are probably
hundreds of thoughts like this that you have each day.
Once the original thought appears, you then have a problem --something needs to be done with the time demand that has been
created in your mind, so that it can be accessed and used at somelater point in time.
The most common “storage device” we use as Caribbean professionalsis our own personal memory. Another storage device might be a Post-
It note. Yet another might be a paper pad, or a notebook. A PDA issometimes used also.
After the time demand is stored, hopefully we are able to use the
“storage device” to prompt further action, either by acting on it in the
moment, adding it to our calendar or putting it on a list.
Once the time demand is successfully executed, it disappears.
Capturing is the action that connects the moment of creation with therest of the process and enables us to deal with all kinds of time
demands, from different sources, in different media.
Some everyday examples include:
• an email needing a response that we keep in our Inbox
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• a request our mother made to call our sister on her birthday
• a phone number given to us to put in our diary that we write ona slip of paper
• an appointment next week Thursday to check the status of acheque
• a meeting that we ask our assistant to schedule• a note to ourselves to call JPS to find out what the balance on
the account is
This, of course, is just a partial list to which you can add your ownpersonal examples. The chances are good that your list is a unique
one.
Key Principles of Capturing
A key finding from recent researchshows that our memories do a verypoor job in Capturing. It reveals that
we can be counted on to rememberonly 7 items reliably, on average. As
adults get older, our abilities toremember only become more
impaired – this may be something youhave already experienced!
Any effective time management
system must help you, the user, toreliably Capture time demands,without allowing them to be lost. As
technology has expanded, the numberof incoming items has only increased,
and the number of sources of time demands has also expanded.
You may have already had the experience of losing track of more andmore time demands, which is a common experience that professionals
are having due to the number of channels from which time demandsare entering their space.
For example, the thought that something needs to be done can
originate from:
• a conversation
• individual brainstorming or reading
• bills
Audio Resources
Included in this e-book is a podcasttaken from a live programme –
“NewHabits-NewGoals” – that Itaught in January 2008.
“Capturing” is covered in this 28minute recording which includes an
excerpt from the class, including
questions and answers from classparticipants.
The podcast can be heard or
downloaded by visitinghttp://urlcut.com/ja2timeaud1 and
the slides used can be found athttp://urlcut.com/ja2timeslides1
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• daydreaming
• radio and television programmes
• letters
• how-to-books• websites
• newspaper• email
• voicemail
• pagers / Blackberries / cell text messages
• instant messages
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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A Novice/White Belt relies on their memory for most if not all timedemands. The basic novice refuses to write anything down, and
continues this practice even when the number of time demandsincreases. Their practice can result in missed appointments, late
arrivals, forgotten promises, unreturned emails and sometimes evena sense of being burdened by life’s demands
A Yellow Belt relies on a mix of memory and available scraps of
paper
An Orange Belt hardly relies on paper and uses mostly whatever
available paper they can find to write on.
A Green Belt always carries a single “device” for capturing new
demands as they arise, never using memory or scraps of paperunless the situation prevents it. The device might be a paper pad, a
PDA, or a digital voice recorder, for example. For Green Belts,
virtually nothing ever falls through the cracks. They are able toincorporate new channels of information, and increasing time
demands, when others simply become overwhelmed.
They are also able to upgrade their capturing practices when theybecome obsolete using new technology.
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More on Capturing
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:
[email protected]. Ask them to follow the direction above.
Thanks!
On behalf of Framework Consulting, I’d like to thank you for readingthis e-book. For more information about our other information
products, please visit our website at http://fwconsulting.com.
Francis Wade
P.S. To receive regular updates on our newest offerings of all kinds,
sign up for our periodic One Page Digest, by simply sending email [email protected]
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Hollywood, FL 33021954-323-2552 / 876-880-8653
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