Most professionals didn’t learn their time management in a class or from a book. Instead, they pulled off a remarkable feat when, at some point in their young adulthood, they created their own system. Any successes in life, were due in part to this remarkable, brilliant, solo act.
This fact is just one that a time management coach must use to shape his/her understanding of the art and science of time management. Here are some of the other incontrovertible facts that I’ll be using in future posts:
- Fact #1 – each professional has developed a unique system
- Fact #2 – most professionals did this without any outside assistance or guidance
- Fact #3 – professionals experience gaps in their systems when the volume of time demands grows to the point where some tasks are left incomplete, or late. Although these gaps exist, there are aspects of their systems that work quite well.
- Fact#4 – these gaps can be filled by upgraded practices that evolve into new habits
- Fact #5 – habit change is quite a difficult undertaking, and is best tackled in small steps, with lots of support
- Fact #6 – most managers and professional coaches, authors and trainers focus on giving “clients” either a blizzard of disjoint tips, or a rigid system of fixed habits
These 6 facts form the basis or foundation for all time management 2.0 coaching. They provide a realistic starting point for anyone who wants to improve the time management performance of someone else as it gives a background against which a coach can be effective.
The truth is that if you’re a time management coach, your intention is to change individual behavior in a complex area of life that happens to be evolving rapidly due to increasing demands, and new technology. Given your commitment, and the business environment in 2012, you must start from a place of solid, empirical facts in order to give powerful advice that makes a difference. Otherwise, you might very well end up just throwing tips at the client, hoping that something sticks.
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Leave me a comment below, if you’d like me to clear up any point that I have made above, or even if you have a different point of view… or maybe just want to say “Hi! I’m a reader!”