Tip 30: Punctuality as the Rule, not the Exception
Tip 31: The Anticyclical Approach
Tip 33: The Wise Use of Checklists
Tip 35: A Place for Everything
Tip 36: Create Backups and Find Alternatives
Tip 37: Keep Your Clutter, but Put It Behind You
Tip 39: Preliminary Information
Tip 40: Keep the Overview with an Action Item List
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Foreword
A Modern Concept for Real Time Intelligence
For many people, the idea of achieving exactly what they want, in less time and without stress, and not only three days a week but continuously, is a pipe dream. Things can look very different in reality. Life is busy and chaotic, and often we only have time to get the things under control that are absolutely necessary. In such situations, work often stops being fun, and we end up sacrificing the quality of the work we produce. This problem affects so many people that Zach Davis was motivated to make an extensive study of the topic of time mastery. Thousands of participants in Zach Davis’s time intelligence events have shared their experiences in this area, and these stories feed into the recommendations and analyses in this book.
Ineffective time management can cause disruptions in every aspect of life. It can affect our whole personality and the impressions we make on others, and over time it can become a burden at work as well as in one’s private life. Each and every step toward escaping this rat race can have a positive impact on your life, and even a small impetus for change can work wonders.
The dream does not need to remain an impossible one. Zach Davis and his young colleague Juliana Kushner will show you a new and direct path to autonomous time management, knowing full well that the old methods of classical time management have lost some of their luster. This book provides a long-overdue update on the topic, along with intriguing and astoundingly effective strategies. Whereas previously we often found ourselves rushing from one task to the next, trying to put out one fire after another, we will now see potential, new solutions. Here’s how I like to describe one of the problems with regard to time mastery:
None of us has time to organize our papers and our desks, but we all have time to go searching for what we’re looking for.
This is also the starting point for Zach Davis. We learn how much more effective it is to improve the process itself rather than simply continue struggling within the process. This way we can develop foresight and effective strategies, so that we prevent the fires before they even start.
After all, most people whose time management is in a state of disarray know that many tasks would be accomplished more easily if they were approached in a methodical and structured fashion. While there is rarely a dearth of solutions, the actual execution is often lacking. The result is a state of dissatisfaction that can last weeks, months, or even years. In the meantime, people carry out important tasks in an uncoordinated or negligent fashion; this situation, in turn, means that more and more time needs to be spent on correcting the mistakes and omissions left over from yesterday. Plans and intentions that are important for the individual are totally neglected, although exactly these steps are necessary to implement the change that is long overdue.
That is why this topic is so important today. When professional success or private life fall by the wayside, there will necessarily be dissatisfaction – which means that stress and lack of motivation will further exacerbate the situation. After all, time mastery means far more than simply keeping your appointments. Davis and Kushner go right to the root of the matter and in the process debunk many myths that are contained in classical theories of time management. They have managed to create a novel and (literally) timely concept that does not theorize in an abstract way, but rather presents concrete suggestions for how each and every one of us can deal with the factor of time in our lives.
As you begin reading this work, you will probably recognize yourself in many descriptions and start to realize after only a few pages that there is a way to escape from the misery. Many of us feel we are in the midst of a labyrinth made up of stress, time pressure, and last-minute compensations. With a good dose of humor and an intelligent concept, the authors show their readers a path leading out of the labyrinth. If you want to do more than halfway master the absolutely necessary, I can only congratulate you on your choice of reading matter.
Yours,
Stéphane Etrillard
Best-selling author, speaker, and executive coach
The Best Rescuer in the World
Imagine a river with a raging current. Time and again, people need to be rescued from drowning in this river. Savior Sam always comes to the rescue – he is quick, efficient, and reliable. Often he rescues the victims only at the last minute, but somehow he always manages, although actually there are far too many people to save for just one hero. Day in, day out, through sheer dedication he succeeds every time. Unfortunately, though, he never has the time to go investigate who is pushing all these people into the water half a mile up the river because he is too busy rescuing them.
Does this little introductory story