Cracks-of-Time Info

What do you do when you find those few precious moments between projects and other tasks. Do you sit there and daydream about what you would be doing if you had more time? Most people do.

To accomplish everything you want in your life you are going to need a system. A system that is easy to implement, easy to measure and easy to master. I have a system that is all that, and more. The word ’system’ may not be accurate, it is more of a unique philosophy to manage all aspects of your life in this era of multi-tasking. I call it the Cracks-of-Time system.

Philosophy: You only have one thing in life that you truly own and can control. Your time. Once gone, it can never be replaced. You choose how to trade it, invest it OR spend it. The only thing of value you have in life is your labor. Labor can be in the form of physical work or cerebral work. You exchange your labor for money, you don’t “earn” money, your money “earns” money in the form of interest. Since you now understand that time is a personal commodity, invest it well. Make it a habit to jot down EVERYTHING that is a task. Always keep the list with you. When you find yourself with a little time between projects or tasks, put that crack-of-time to good use, pull out your list and see which one you can accomplish, finish or at least partially complete in that present crack-of-time. If you make usingall those cracks of time you find in a day, you will be amazed at how much you can get accomplished in a day and how much of your time you have recaptured that you now have to TRADE, INVEST or SPEND.

Personal Application: If you make using cracks-of-time a habit, you will have time for those special and precious people in your life. If you are a home maker, a small business person or operate a home based business, using the Cracks-of-Time system will condense your working time and free up more time for personal activities.

Business Application: If you own a small business or operate a home based business, this Cracks-of-Time system will allow you to increase your productivity and free up that important “me-time” that all of us super-doers need. If you have employees, or affiliates or even contractors, if you master the Cracks-of-Time system you can show them, be their mentor and you both will benefit but your benefit will grow exponentially. Once you make using Cracks-of-Time a habit, you will have the time for those special and precious people in your life.

Overview:

Each of us has our primary and secondary sources of income. Our primary income source may be from running our own businesses or from working for someone else. Our secondary income may come from a part-time job, a small home based business, or maybe from investments.

Although I have my own business, I have no employees. All of the other contributors to my business are independent contractors or affiliates. Most of these people have other JOBs (Just-Over-Broke) and they “sell” me services or sell my products and services as affiliates on their own schedules.

This is a very common scenario for small businesses all over the world. Each person that participates in a similar business strategy will run their business and their personal lives, either by plan or by default. Those that have a plan that is well defined, written down and has specific goals in place have a 80% chance of succeeding. Those that run their business and their personal lives by default, meaning they just stumble along and have knee jerk reactions to whatever happens, are mostly doomed to fail.

If you are a multi-tasker or a super-doer by nature, you already work in cracks-of-time on your other projects. If you are not a multi-tasker or super-doer, then this is something that is either new to you or you are familiar with it and would rather not do it.

If you are the latter of the two above, then let me explain to you that this thing we call cracks-of-time can be a very valuable tool and probably one of the best tools to get you to the point of your intended personal and financial goals.

We all have a busy life and we all have the same amount of hours in a day. There are some of us that can get more done in a day because we have mastered the ability of chipping away at a list of tasks by seeing the opportunity to complete portions of the list as we go about our daily lives. Here is an example:

You sitting in traffic and you check your list and you see that one of the items is getting a phone number from Joe. So, you take this moment, 60 second phone call, and you call Joe and now you have the number and you can mark that one off the list. Later that morning you are waiting for some copies to be made and you see that one of the items was to get more file folders, so you take the time that the copier is running to grab a box from the storage room. It all sounds simple, but how many times would you have used those two cracks-of-time to do some non-productive activity, like listen to the radio and talk to a colleague.

Also, once you master this cracks-of-time thing, you will adopt it into every aspect of your life. You will be amazed at how much more you can do without undue stress from feeling overwhelmed.

One of the first steps is to adopt a habit of making one line notes identifying the task or to-do in either a tablet or on your ‘tool-of-choice’; iPhone, PDA, Computer, etc.

Initially, do not rate your list of tasks or ‘to-dos’ by importance, that will change as you add to your list and you will be constantly changing the priority list and that is just a waste of time.

You will want to place your listed tasks or ‘to-dos’ in categories if you are going to use this method for more than one aspect of your life such as; personal, family, job A, job B, hobbies, etc.

In any case, make a list. I use a tablet and I leave a couple lines between each task or to-do so I can make additional notes as I work on each one in a crack-of-time. I may end up coming back to a task two, three of more times before it is completed. Sometimes I will make a note to remind me of what portion of the task is done or maybe a secondary contact name and number regarding the task.

Once you make a list, the task or to-do now has a psychological importance to you and you will start working on solutions in your subconscious mind and as you go about your daily activities. Using this method you will find that procrastination is something that you experience less and less often.

Simple procrastination can and does cost you a rather large portion of your life. Procrastination is most often caused by feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to consummate all your tasks at hand in a short amount of time.

By making lists, you can now measure your obligations and once measured you can assign time and resources to the most pressing tasks first. If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it.

As I consummate a task or to-do, I like to put a line through the completed items, it is a rather bold gesture and it makes the point that that task is DONE. You can use check marks or whatever is your style.

Be In Control. It is your time and your life.

What we are talking about is Time Management. These skills are essential skills for effective people, personally and professionally.  People who use time management effectively are the highest achievers in all walks of life.

Even if you do not master these skills, but just learn to use them reasonably well, you will be able to function much better than the average person and handle stress well, even under intense pressure.

At the heart of ‘Cracks-Of Time’ time management is an important shift in focus:

1. Understand the difference between activity and accomplishment.

Most people have confused activity with accomplishment. Once you learn to recognize the difference, you see it everywhere, especially in the workplace. If you are a producer, you probably can easily recognize those that hang on to their jobs be doing the absolute minimum to get a paycheck. The have mastered the skill of ‘activity’, not accomplishment.

2. Make a list, work the list  in Cracks-of-time.

Adopt a habit of making one line notes identifying the task or to-do in either a tablet or on your ‘tool-of-choice’; iPhone, PDA, Computer, etc. Pace your listed tasks or ‘to-dos’ in categories if you are going to use this method for more than one aspect of your life such as; personal, family, job A, job B, hobbies, etc. Once you make a list, the task or to-do now has a psychological importance to you and you will start working on solutions in your subconscious mind and as you go about your daily activities.

3. Once measured it can be managed.

This step controls procrastination which can and does cost you a rather large portion of your life. Procrastination is most often caused by feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to consummate all your tasks at hand in a short amount of time. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the task, it may be that you may not know where to begin, or you may doubt that you have the skills or resources you think you need. In that case, break the project into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks and a list of all the known steps to consummate the task. Make it manageable. By making lists, you can now measure your obligations and once measured you can assign time and resources to the most pressing tasks first. If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. Everyone works the same amount of time, (and procrastinators often work longer hours but they invest their time in the wrong tasks), non-procrastinators understand the difference between urgent tasks and important tasks, and jump straight into getting on with the tasks that are actually important because they understand how to measure its value.

4. Concentrate on results, not on being busy

As you read through your list, you will normally try to do the easiest and shortest ones first. That is normal. However, as you become a master of Cracks-of-Time, you will shift to selecting that tasks that are the most important to you because you will see measurable results quickly and the feeling of accomplishment will trump the lack luster feeling of activity.

Procrastination sucks

Just a few words about procrastination. If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree – but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them achieving things they’re capable of and disrupts their careers.

The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to work the Cracks-of-Time system. The mere activity of the C.O.T. system eliminates the desire of procrastination.

Why do we Procrastinate?

People procrastinate when they put off things that they should be focusing on right now, usually in favor of doing something that is more enjoyable or that they’re more comfortable doing.

They may not even think about their approach and simply be driven by the person whose demands are loudest. By doing this, they have little or no time left for the important tasks.

How to Overcome Procrastination:

Step 1: Recognize that you’re Procrastinating

If you’re honest with yourself, you probably know when you’re procrastinating. It is usually when you are not working the C.O.T.

But to be sure, you first need to make sure you know your priorities. Putting off an unimportant task isn’t procrastination, it’s probably good prioritization.

Step 2: Work out WHY You’re Procrastinating

Common causes of procrastination were discussed in detail above, but they can often be reduced to two main reasons:

• You find the task unpleasant; or
• You find the task overwhelming

Step 3: Get over it!

If you are putting something off because you just don’t want to do it, and you really can’t delegate the work to someone else, you need to find ways of motivating yourself to get moving. The following approaches can be helpful here:

• Make up your own rewards
• Ask someone else to check up on you. Peer pressure works!
• Identify the unpleasant consequences of NOT doing the task.
• Work out the cost of your time. You are either being paid to do the things that an employer thinks are important or you need to create a value of your time in regards to your project or goal. Look at your overall goal list and realize that you will not get there unless YOU stop procrastinating. Shame yourself into getting going!

C.O.T. lists, The Key to Efficiency

Three reasons to use lists;

1. You frequently feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do
2. You have too many pending deadlines
3. You sometimes just forget to do something important.

When people start to use a system like C.O.T. properly that they often make their first personal productivity / time management breakthrough, and start to make a real success of their careers.

By using the C.O.T. system you make sure that you capture all of the tasks you have to complete in one place. Break the list into categories. Don’t worry about prioritizing it at first. That will come as you perfect your system. Once you have you list categorized, you’ll do those things that needs your immediate attention. Without C.O.T. lists you’ll feel unfocused and be unreliable to the people around you. With C.O.T. lists, you’ll be much better organized, and will be much more reliable. This is very important!

Preparing a C.O.T. lists

To start preparing your C.O.T. lists, download the template.

Start by writing down all of the tasks that you need to complete, and place them into the categories. If they are large, break them down into their component elements. If these still seem large, break them down again. Do this until you have listed everything that you have to do.

Next, set up priorities from A (very important, or very urgent) to D (unimportant, or not at all urgent). If too many tasks have a high priority, run through the list again and demote the less important ones. Once you have done this, rewrite the list in priority order.

Now, you can use the C.O.T system to eliminate the tasks one by one and you will be able to tackle these in order of importance or urgency. This allows you to separate activity from accomplishment.

Using Your C.O.T. lists

Different people use To-Do Lists in different ways. Using the C.O.T system is a good way of motivating yourself and to learn to keep your list relatively short and aim to complete it every day.

If a task is large or dependent on too many other people, then it may be better to keep it on a separate list and ‘chip away’ at it in cracks-of-time.

In addition, you carry unimportant jobs from one list to the next list or create a list for very low priority jobs. This list may last for several months.

Key points:

Prioritized To-Do Lists are fundamentally important to efficient work. Using the C.O.T System, you will ensure that:

1. You understand the difference between activity and accomplishment.

2. You will learn to make a list and work the list in Cracks-of-time.

3. You will learn that ‘Once measured it can be managed’.

4. You will learn to concentrate on results, not on being busy

Download our template and use it to list all the tasks you must carry out.