Home
>
Time Management
>
Low Tech Time Management

Low Tech Time Management

A simple kitchen gadget is transforming my life. I don't know why I never thought of it before. It wasn't my idea. It was a side comment made by nationally recognized life coach Alicia Smith, at the beginning of the Coachville teleseminar Understanding the Dynamics of Adrenaline Addiction. She said she "lives by timers."

It was at that moment I realized: I have no inherent sense of time. I'm geographically impaired too, but that's another article. I don't think I would have re-connected with just how non-time oriented I am without having had a sabbatical from a nine-to-five job.

Having a job, any job, implies a certain amount of structure. Maybe you have to be somewhere at nine a.m. You go home at five p.m. You have lunch at noon. You have a meeting at ten, an appointment at two. Productivity flows in and around your commitments. Remove the structure? Creativity ? and productivity ? pour out everywhere and become un-measurable and un-acknowledgeable. It's not necessarily that you're not doing anything. There's just nothing to gauge it by anymore.

As a kid, I'd spend hours in my room writing, painting or playing guitar. I'd forget to eat. I'd stay up until the middle of the night working on a project. When you don't have to work you aren't quite as constricted by the sixty-minute-per-hour agreement.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee), author of the book Flow and renowned architect of the notion of flow in creativity; asserts people enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. Time flies."

It sure does. But what about the sixty-minute-per-hour standard most live by ? the one used to calculate our paychecks and measure our productivity?

In an attempt to bridge the gap, I bought a timer. In fact, it is ticking as I type this. And it's not interrupting my flow experience of writing one iota.

This isn't the first time I've used a timer to accomplish a task. Jerry Mundis, author of over forty books of fiction and non-fiction, and creator of the knockout tape series, Break Writer's Block Forever, coached me through the writing of my first novel (two hundred and sixty pages) allowing me to write for only thirty-minutes per day.

When the buzzer went off, my instructions were to click File, Save and Close and forget about the book until the next day. This kind of structure didn't hurt my creativity one whit. In fact, combining this discipline with writing at approximately the same time each day caused my subconscious to cue up the next few scenes overnight. Every night I sat down, set the timer and turned the faucet on. The words poured out. When the time buzzed, I shut off the faucet. And that's how my first novel got written.

Another thing I love about the timer? It's a guilt-killer. If I only have an hour and a half to practice an instrument or write an article, when the buzzer goes off, I'm done. I don't have to think about it anymore.

Time is much too precious a commodity to mindlessly let slip away. So grab your PDA, phone or Blackberry and find the alarm on it. Or go to the kitchen and grab a simple plastic timer, give the dial a turn and when it buzzes, File, Save and Close and celebrate your sixty-minutes of creativity and accomplishments.

Helena Bouchez is a writer, musician, artist, teacher and former advertising agency associate technology director.

She has a B.A. in Art from Wayne State University and a Certificate in Business Administration from University of Illinois Chicago Center for Entrepreneurship, is nearly finished with her first novel tentatively titled, "Till you Make It", and enjoys playing bass guitar in all three of her bands. http://www.helenabouchez.com

cheap limo service Lombard .. Lockport Chicago limo O’Hare

In The News:

Recent reports show many common passwords can be cracked in literally seconds. Kurt the CyberGuy explains how to strengthen your passwords.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Iron, a robot that stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 154 pounds, combines advanced artificial intelligence with human-like movement and exceptional vision.

Hertz, the rental car giant, recently confirmed that customer information was exposed through a cyberattack on one of its software vendors.

There are a number of features with AirPods you may or may not know about to take your listening experience to the next level. Kurt the CyberGuy explains.

These 35 Chrome extensions have privacy and security concerns. Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says to delete them now.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says 329,000 mph fusion rocket promises to be fast, disruptive and enable deep-space missions.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says a new autonomous AI is a game changer that also raises privacy risks. Is your data safe?

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says robots and drones are revolutionizing fruit farming with faster picking and smarter handling.

Landmark Admin revises May 2024 cyberattack scope to show twice as many people were affected. Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson gives tips to help stay safe from an insurance data breach.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson talks about how Yamaha’s hydrogen outboard motor could revolutionize boating with zero emissions.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson reveals how to memorialize or remove a deceased loved one’s Facebook account and protect their digital legacy from misuse or scams.

Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says an Apple Watch saved psychiatrist Amanda Faulkner by detecting deadly leukemia early.

Scammers and fraudsters are increasingly targeting the most vulnerable, especially nursing homes and the personal data of their residents. Kurt the CyberGuy has safety tips.

Infected USB flash drives can spread malware among multiple organizations in ways that can easily bypass traditional security systems.

With a fully automated warehouse system and AI-powered robots, Ocado's Hive picks, packs and delivers grocery store orders in just a few minutes.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Recycling robots are using artificial intelligence to learn how to sort recyclables by recognizing patterns in colors, textures, shapes and logos.

The Reachy 2 robot is designed to be friendly and approachable, inviting natural interaction and is perfect for research, education and experimenting with embodied AI.

Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson shares several easy ways to keep your credit cards safe from digital thieves while you're traveling this summer.

Arcturus sets up cameras around the edges of baseball stadiums to capture real-time action and generate a 3D digital clone of the game.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

The CyberGuy explains why healthcare organizations are vulnerable to hackers after there have been a half dozen data breaches this year.

Developed at two California universities, the innovative technology combines brain-computer interfaces with advanced AI to decode neural activity into audible speech.