Inside the Free Membership Time Management Dream Team (available via the homepage self-assessment for Time Management Exposed), one of the members, and a friend and collaborative partner of mine said:

> I find it difficult to buckle down and 'bind my time' whenever I don't happen to have some sort of pressure or tension.

And here was my response:

Oh my dear fellow, you have just unleashed a pressure cooker the likes of which will go down as previously and forever after untold in human history.

And so we begin… finally.

Deliverables… your new focus is deliverables.

As part of our private InstaTime work, we have already started some o.docs for you.

If you are game, I want to see a list of every single 'MAJOR' project you have on your shoulders.

From my perspective, that is your next deliverable.

And from now on, you have a new self-question.  What is my next deliverable?

The status of your tasks of your todo list is vital for time management.

And there are not a great deal of possible statuses.

Your task is either:

• done
• undone
• moved
• delegated
• waiting for other action
• cancelled
• postponed

If you can think of any other statuses for your tasks, add them in the comments below.

By marking all of your tasks with their status you will be able to sift through them most efficiently to organize and prepare what to do next.

Often times todo lists end up containing non-actionable items.

For example:  You can not literally, physically 'do' year-end report, yet 'year-end report' might be how you list someting on your todo list.

Remember, a todo list must be made of things you can literally, physically, 'do'.

Framing your todo list in the physical world helps keep it real… Helps keep it useful, accurate, and efficient.

Here's how:

Imagine what’s being done, and make a task statement that includes verb, noun and object.

E.g.

• Instead of having a task ‘year-end report’.  Your verb/noun/object statement could be: Download Q3 spreadsheet from work server
• Instead of having a task ‘get with Anil’, your verb/noun/object statement could be: email Anil to schedule dinner

What we are doing is breaking big nouns into small verbs.

From the big noun ‘year-end report’ to the small noun of ‘download’.  And then adding the relevant objects… I.e. Download what?… ‘The spreadsheet from the server’.

This makes the task clear in terms of physical next step actions.  Which is key to getting things done, identified in GTD by David Allen, and adopted by the InstaTime Time Management System.

You want to zero in on the physicality of the first action you must make for all of your projects next actions.

Merlin Mann of 43folders.com says he tries never to plan a task that would take more than ten minutes, which suits his level of ‘busyness’. Your optimum task time-frame depends no your own busyness.  For further detail on 'getting physical with your time management' visit Merlin's excellent post.

Wow.. I've not made a normal blog post here for a month…

And I'm writing this at a very wrong hour of the night.

I should be sleeping.. but don't you find that often our difficulties with time management stem from the fact that we are so very passionate about fulfilling certain areas of our lives, that the rest just sometimes 'gets in the way'.

Well that's what I'm going through (yet again) right now.

I'm finally thinking of continuing to write my book on human efficiency, modern time management, and mental control.

For now though I'm preparing a new white paper for time management in business.  If you haven't got the first one, and work in a small business team, then get the white paper free at the time management training page.

And if you haven't yet used it, take the time management self-assessment on the homepage for time management in your personal life.

I wrote to a customer of my time management system because i hadn't heard from her and wanted to make sure she had received the product, and USED IT!

It's so important to me that my clients get maximum benefit from my work.  Otherwise what's the point. I don't work on these personal websites just for fun, nor for the small revenue it generates.

I'm searching for a system that gives other people the boost in productivity, satisfaction, and success that it has brought many people so far.

But up until this point with Lana, it, I, or her, had not won the battle against the time management demons.

And here's what she replied…

You are right…..I didn't find or take time to do the work..Now I don't even have it anymore. I am such a mess…..I need a lot of help. Please help me get started.

Oh dear…

My stomach sank as I read that.

Not only had she not yet even read the time management system product that she PAID for, but she had missed placed it too!

Perhaps what she needed before a time management information product as a way to get organized.

Listen, if you decide to use one of my products, please USE it.  If you get stuck, ask me for guidance.  I will help you personally to achieve the time management goals you are seeking.

Hmm, this comes close to the topic of procrastination. Here are a few other blog posts on procrastination:

Tips For Procrastination - Years ago, back when I was young and naive, I used to think that doing office work would be, well, maybe not exciting, but at the very least mildly challenging. But after several years of working temporary positions for various …

Prioritization vs Procrastination - At times, procrastination on certain things has its own good and bad. When it turn out to be good, I feel proud about it (even brag about it) and when it turn out bad, I would probably break down and cried. Emo as it may see but that is …

Exploring procrastination - Procrastination is an equal opportunity affliction, according to one of the field’s pioneering researchers, Joseph R. Ferrari of DePaul University. Women are just as likely to exhibit the behavior as men; 20-year-olds are as prone to it …

Is It Procrastination or Is It Only Your Type? by Sarah Dolliver - My colleague and good friend, Kerul Kassel of www.stopprocrastinatingnow.com, believes there are 2 types of procrastination: negative and positive. The negative form keeps you from doing what you can do and puts you behind the …

One of the biggest time stealers in my life right now, is doing updates to my websites.

Just the other day my time management website crashed. Now I'm thinking of changing webhosts.  That takes time, lots of it.

Every moment is vitally important to me.  Some moments are used up by a general relaxed milieu of not accomplishing or doing very much at all. 

Forgive me.

But most of my time is geared towards something far more productive, pressing, or useful than I see most of my peers doing.

But then I run into those hurdles.  Car problems. Website problems. Whatever it is, they steal plenty of my time.

What are your major current time stealers?

Do you have a list?

I'm going to do a list of my own… I might share them here

Here are a few other blog posts I found on the matter…

10 Time-Management Problem Areas - The five deadliest words in time management are “Have you got a minute?” Everyone is a culprit: colleagues, your boss, suppliers. Knowing how to deal with interruptions is one of the best skills you can learn. Ineffective delegation. …

The Pros and Cons of Time Management Training - In fact, some of your best performing employees may have problems managing their time. What this means is that when they actually do choose to work, they are likely to produce the best results. These are the type of employees that you …

Time Management - Someone gave me description like this;- If someone came late to the meeting particularly you’re the chair, then you have opportunity to re-arrange the schedule and you have extra time to think about the problem. …

 

Here's a quick time management self review.

It's mid-week, Wednesday in fact.

I need to spend an hour or so tidying up my current project plans.

Then brush up the next step actions for each.

Once I've done that I'll probably feel a little easier about my time management. 

For even though I'm doing the right stuff, I just have that niggling feeling that I'm not quite in enough control, that I've got too many open loops floating about my head

A major part of time management is having full relaxation that you have everything accounted for, and if you're carrying things in your head, which you might obviously forget, then you certainly don't have everything controlled and accounted for, and thus you don't have time management control.

So I'm going to go update my project notes right now.

Here are some other blog posts on Self-Reviews…

Six Components of a GTD Review - The "game" of trying to empty Outlook inboxes and raise my NAA score has provided just enough incentive to get me to plug my GTD leaks and attack those lingering "high cringe factor" items clogging up my dashboard. …

Online tool review: GTDagenda - I’d like to share my findings with you in case you’re looking for the next online tasks and projects management tool which follows some of the best ideas of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) approach. …

GTD: Weekly review links - Updated: I completely forgot about a previous GTD/Weekly review post. Spring break is approaching fast. The power of the Getting Things Done lies in the trusted system philosophy: if I completely trust my system, I’ll use it all the …

Yesterday the Time Management System Lattice site went down, partly due to the new videos that I'm uploading and people viewing them. 

Once the site came back (after bandwidth issues were resolved with the webhost by my tech guy), I was able to send a new video on time management to everyone who has got the free InstaTime report that is still available on the home page.

Check out the InstaTime Time Management Report and you'll also get access to some new time management videos.

I'm currently creating screen-cam videos or slideshow presentation videos for different areas of time management, including How To Prioritize, Obsolete Time Management Techniques, and much much more.

    

In 2006 I conducted a small time management system seminar on a tropical island in Thailand.

It was a 30 day dedicated frenzy of testing all manner of time management techniques on myself, and reporting my findings, successes and failures, to the group of clients involved.

Then in 2007 I released the TimeLattice Time Management System.  A new paradigm in time management that I stumbled on through doing that gruelling 30 day attempt at getting old time management techniques to work.

I really did discover some incredible and insightful things.  I doubt it was my intelligence.  But just the fact of 30 days total immersion and dedication to time management.

But now again around the turn of 2008 I have found an even simpler way of delivering the same natural time management results from the Time Lattice.

I've called it InstaTime.

And this blog will chronicle the journey of tying InstaTime into every other time management system, along with the evolution of InstaTime with modern personal organization software, new time management books that are published, and my battle with traditional time management techniques that I have exposed as obsolete, and even dangerous, to your time management success.

On the website homepage you can get the FREE InstaTime Report.

It's great to finally be starting a new time management blog.

Here's a few other recent posts from the blogosphere…

Time Management - Finally Accomplish Your To Do List - Time Management Do you find yourself rushing through your afternoon , stampeding to the door, making your way through traffic only to arrive an half hour late for work because you had to wait for the train? How does the rest of your day …

Time Management For the Hopeless Writer - Dare I hope that my struggle is over? Could this be what you’re looking for, too? If so… well okay, you can thank me for the tip. Or send chocolate. *Leo Babauta, who wrote ZTD (Zen to Done) also has an excellent time management blog. …

Some Practical Time Management Techniques - A lot of people end up clamoring for time management techniques. This is especially true for people who just have so many things to think about in their lives while they are left with little to no room left to relax. …