Discussion Forum > Using TM systems to act according to one's values
Belacqua:
<< For instance, there is a well-known paradox in utilitarianism that calculating the consequences of every action would itself produce bad consequences, because it would be too inefficient to constantly have to weigh pros and cons. This doesn't invalidate utilitarianism. But it does seem to suggest that, in everyday life, we need a more intuitive approach to deciding what to do. >>
Sort of "What would Jeremy Bentham do?"
But seriously, to continue with the utilitarianism example, surely the paradox is invalid because what is actually being suggested is not that one should constantly be weighing the consequences of every individual action, but that one should be weighing the consequences of every course of action.
For example, if you want to decide what time to get up in the morning, you would do a one-time weighing up of the pros and cons and then get up at that time every morning. You wouldn't have to do the weighing up again except for special circumstances (e.g. what time do I need to get up to catch that plane?)
And that is pretty much what any organized person would do anyway.
Basically my answer to your overall question of how a time management system helps you express your value system is:
1. The TM system helps you to act more efficiently. That means you are able to express your existing value system better. Instead of drifting, you are actually doing what you believe in.
2. Because the system is enabling you to better express your existing values, it makes it easier to see what those existing values actually are. That in turn makes it easier to amend those values (note that I said "easier" not "easy"!)
3. So to take your example of fun and distracting tasks vs. charity work, There is a great difference between just drifting and consciously choosing. By using the TM system you have consciously chosen to do fun tasks instead of charity work. If you've consciously chosen to do them, then you can consciously choose not to do them.
<< For instance, there is a well-known paradox in utilitarianism that calculating the consequences of every action would itself produce bad consequences, because it would be too inefficient to constantly have to weigh pros and cons. This doesn't invalidate utilitarianism. But it does seem to suggest that, in everyday life, we need a more intuitive approach to deciding what to do. >>
Sort of "What would Jeremy Bentham do?"
But seriously, to continue with the utilitarianism example, surely the paradox is invalid because what is actually being suggested is not that one should constantly be weighing the consequences of every individual action, but that one should be weighing the consequences of every course of action.
For example, if you want to decide what time to get up in the morning, you would do a one-time weighing up of the pros and cons and then get up at that time every morning. You wouldn't have to do the weighing up again except for special circumstances (e.g. what time do I need to get up to catch that plane?)
And that is pretty much what any organized person would do anyway.
Basically my answer to your overall question of how a time management system helps you express your value system is:
1. The TM system helps you to act more efficiently. That means you are able to express your existing value system better. Instead of drifting, you are actually doing what you believe in.
2. Because the system is enabling you to better express your existing values, it makes it easier to see what those existing values actually are. That in turn makes it easier to amend those values (note that I said "easier" not "easy"!)
3. So to take your example of fun and distracting tasks vs. charity work, There is a great difference between just drifting and consciously choosing. By using the TM system you have consciously chosen to do fun tasks instead of charity work. If you've consciously chosen to do them, then you can consciously choose not to do them.
January 3, 2022 at 10:35 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Belacqua - a thought provoking read, thanks for posting it.
I believe the late Dr. Viktor Frankl was correct when he said (I'm paraphrasing): We intuit our values/principles over time.
I have not found time management systems helpful in this regard. They are too linear and rational. Helpful? Of course. But I don't need them to guide me toward the things I know reflect my deepest values. For example, I don't need to put "Sketch something" on a list because I know it's something that brings joy to my day, and a skill I want to develop. The same is true for going to the gym, playing with my kids, etc.
In fact, I have found that a certain blandness settles in when I have used list-based systems populated with the mundane (Wash clothes) and the more meaningful/joyful (Sketch in a coffee shop).
I think list-based TM systems - GTD, AF, etc - would have been very helpful for me while I was in high school, university, etc. At the time, I winged all of it, and the results weren't pretty.
I believe the late Dr. Viktor Frankl was correct when he said (I'm paraphrasing): We intuit our values/principles over time.
I have not found time management systems helpful in this regard. They are too linear and rational. Helpful? Of course. But I don't need them to guide me toward the things I know reflect my deepest values. For example, I don't need to put "Sketch something" on a list because I know it's something that brings joy to my day, and a skill I want to develop. The same is true for going to the gym, playing with my kids, etc.
In fact, I have found that a certain blandness settles in when I have used list-based systems populated with the mundane (Wash clothes) and the more meaningful/joyful (Sketch in a coffee shop).
I think list-based TM systems - GTD, AF, etc - would have been very helpful for me while I was in high school, university, etc. At the time, I winged all of it, and the results weren't pretty.
January 3, 2022 at 14:04 |
avrum
avrum
I’ve made it a part of my operating system to think daily and weekly about what I value and what I shall do more and better. Morning devotions and evening reflections and weekend looking ahead.
This practice guides me to act more and more according to my values.
These are fixed events not part of a variable todo list. Following them affects what I put on my daily Prediction and what I actually do.
This practice guides me to act more and more according to my values.
These are fixed events not part of a variable todo list. Following them affects what I put on my daily Prediction and what I actually do.
January 3, 2022 at 14:45 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Mark Forster:
<< Sort of "What would Jeremy Bentham do?" >>
Something like that!
Honestly, I have asked myself whether certain components of your systems such as "standing out" (in long list systems) or unconscious processing ("pull mode" in "Dreams") might encourage one to act altruistically (promote the general good) or whether they tend instead to encourage egoism (promoting one's own interests). (Of course, egoism is a value system with its own defenders.) My response is that your systems are universal enough that they can accommodate a wide range of goals. Though, in practice, it can be tricky to get the right balance, and I wonder if some systems are better suited toward certain goals than others. My cop-out answer is that there is no one-size-fits-all. Different people will be attracted to different systems (or will prefer no system).
Thank you--your three points about how a time management system can help you to express your value system was exactly what I was trying to get at--but I couldn't get there in my mind. I agree.
avrum and Alan:
Thanks for sharing your practices/insights.
<< Sort of "What would Jeremy Bentham do?" >>
Something like that!
Honestly, I have asked myself whether certain components of your systems such as "standing out" (in long list systems) or unconscious processing ("pull mode" in "Dreams") might encourage one to act altruistically (promote the general good) or whether they tend instead to encourage egoism (promoting one's own interests). (Of course, egoism is a value system with its own defenders.) My response is that your systems are universal enough that they can accommodate a wide range of goals. Though, in practice, it can be tricky to get the right balance, and I wonder if some systems are better suited toward certain goals than others. My cop-out answer is that there is no one-size-fits-all. Different people will be attracted to different systems (or will prefer no system).
Thank you--your three points about how a time management system can help you to express your value system was exactly what I was trying to get at--but I couldn't get there in my mind. I agree.
avrum and Alan:
Thanks for sharing your practices/insights.
January 3, 2022 at 15:48 |
Belacqua
Belacqua
My experience with simple scanning type systems, was that I tended to do a lot of trivia when my goal was to do a lot more big stuff and valued stuff. Basically, in order to get doing more of the other stuff required me to proactively think about such. Hence my routines as described above.
Another way that ought to work is to put such items IN the long list, but this never actually worked for me.
Another way that ought to work is to put such items IN the long list, but this never actually worked for me.
January 3, 2022 at 16:02 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
This is a good question. There are time management books that start with one's values. Stephen Covey comes to mind. There is a book called Time Power. David Allen has Horizons of Focus:
50000 feet - purpose/principles
mission, statement of purpose
"I exist as a human being to..."
"Why am I doing this?"
In the book "Making it All Work" he has a chapter on this, Chapter 17, with good advice on when and how to engage at this level.
then 40000 feet - vision (multi-year goals)
30000 feet - 1-2 year goals
20000 feet - current responsibilities
10000 feet - current projects
runway - current actions
In chapter 4, he describes the Micromanager ( high control, structure, process, systems, the lower horizons) and the Visionary (high perspective, the upper horizons). On page 67, he writes "When you're in the structure and fulfillment mode, you can't also be in the visioning and outcome-thinking frame of mind. It is impossible to focus consciously on your life purpose and thread a needle at the same time." "You can switch between any of these horizons rapidly, but they can't occupy the same space simultaneously in the psyche."
Then on page 72-75, he recommends to start with what has your attention, "start with what's taking up the space in front of them". "...begin where you are."
"As opposed to putting forward a starting point at some idealized place of 'priorities' or 'strategy' or 'values', which from one point of view would be where you 'should' start, we suggest that you begin where you are."
He gives the examples of fix printer, get a babysitter, 22 emails you've been avoiding.
50000 feet - purpose/principles
mission, statement of purpose
"I exist as a human being to..."
"Why am I doing this?"
In the book "Making it All Work" he has a chapter on this, Chapter 17, with good advice on when and how to engage at this level.
then 40000 feet - vision (multi-year goals)
30000 feet - 1-2 year goals
20000 feet - current responsibilities
10000 feet - current projects
runway - current actions
In chapter 4, he describes the Micromanager ( high control, structure, process, systems, the lower horizons) and the Visionary (high perspective, the upper horizons). On page 67, he writes "When you're in the structure and fulfillment mode, you can't also be in the visioning and outcome-thinking frame of mind. It is impossible to focus consciously on your life purpose and thread a needle at the same time." "You can switch between any of these horizons rapidly, but they can't occupy the same space simultaneously in the psyche."
Then on page 72-75, he recommends to start with what has your attention, "start with what's taking up the space in front of them". "...begin where you are."
"As opposed to putting forward a starting point at some idealized place of 'priorities' or 'strategy' or 'values', which from one point of view would be where you 'should' start, we suggest that you begin where you are."
He gives the examples of fix printer, get a babysitter, 22 emails you've been avoiding.
January 3, 2022 at 18:41 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
Speaking of David Allen... here's the latest podcast from the GTD mothership: http://gettingthingsdone.com/2021/12/two-minute-tips-for-turbulent-times-with-david-allen/
Throughout the pandemic, David recording daily "Two minute tips for turbulent times". Early in his career, he was an actor (among other things), and I think it shows in his delivery. Anyway, I think it's a good listen.
Throughout the pandemic, David recording daily "Two minute tips for turbulent times". Early in his career, he was an actor (among other things), and I think it shows in his delivery. Anyway, I think it's a good listen.
January 3, 2022 at 21:00 |
avrum
avrum
I am listening to David Allen. He starts with doing something small that will take a few minutes, "magic in the mundane", then catch up on your backlog, then capture tools low tech pen and paper. Yes, he has a good voice. He says he is 74. Then what does the still small voice say to you, your intuition, trust intuitive judgment, inner voice.
Has he changed his approach at all? I haven't kept up with him.
Has he changed his approach at all? I haven't kept up with him.
January 3, 2022 at 21:59 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
Mark H.
<< Has he changed his approach at all?>>
He claims no. But who knows what a leader (business, clergy, therapist...) does in private.
I do find his ability to uproot his (successful) life in America, and resettle in Europe very inspiring. What does that say about the man, the system (GTD) or his wife/marriage... I'm not sure.
<< Has he changed his approach at all?>>
He claims no. But who knows what a leader (business, clergy, therapist...) does in private.
I do find his ability to uproot his (successful) life in America, and resettle in Europe very inspiring. What does that say about the man, the system (GTD) or his wife/marriage... I'm not sure.
January 3, 2022 at 23:23 |
avrum
avrum
At first he sounded like he was giving tips that Mark Forster would give. I listened to a few more. He is just giving tips, but this would be easier to implement. Reading over his book now, he sounds sane and reasonable, thorough, and trying to cover all the bases. He seems to be trying for a comprehensive ideal system in GTD. The difficulty comes in trying to implement from scratch. He is likely an expert at his system, but a beginner might be overwhelmed.
January 3, 2022 at 23:30 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
If we examine the religious systems that have appeared to have had the biggest impact and that have created the largest consistent "personal change" over time to the greatest number of people, I think some things start to show up. There are some things that are outside of time management, but surprisingly, I think there is a lot of stuff inside of time management.
Outside of time management, something that has to be dealt with is whether the religious belief is TRUE. Now, people are going to get all up in arms about that concept in today's world because we are so used to an accepted philosophy of individual truth. But in fact, that has never been a long-term successful strategy, even in the short time of the success of the often-lauded individualism of America. The success of the American model isn't because it denied truth, but because it highlighted and enabled a very important growth of a certain sort of truth that has been highly correlated with success in the past.
Notice here I'm not speaking of a religion or value system's ability to be completely "correct", but about its ability to express true beliefs. This is about the value system's ability to bring an individual into greater awareness and alignment with reality, and to act in accordance with that reality.
If the value system you have set up obfuscates reality for something else, rather than somehow bringing you as an individual further into alignment with reality (understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and truth), then I posit that no matter how efficiently you are able to implement it, you will always find yourself unable to succeed in either truly "living" those values or making progress towards them, because the system will undermine itself, no matter how good your time management.
But what all the great and most impactful value systems have in common is their capacity of changing the individual to align better with reality. And that's where I see things like time management taking a big place.
There are lots of religions that have stuck around but which are essentially "impotent" in terms of creating change in a majority of people's lives, either for good or ill. At worst they result in a net loss of productivity in society because they result in a bunch of ineffective people, but for the most part, that doesn't happen because, excepting for certain short time periods, such systems can't sustain themselves over a large group of people for a long enough time.
But among the others, which have made change, all of them involve, IMO, a few things:
1. They manifest a truth or system of belief that is outside of the individual, that the individual must work to align themselves with.
2. They come with a Law of some sort, which serves primarily to take something mystical and difficult to understand and turn it into something that can be used to discern actions from directly. This Law, whatever it is, is more about *teaching* than it is about following rules.
3. There are traditions. These represent practices that are designed to connect people over time. This has an important functional purpose, which is to embed knowledge and understanding which evolves over time but which cannot be easily expressed verbally through mental systems. They are a system of learning and habituation that are designed to ideally engender appropriate growth and meaning in the person.
4. There is a "way of life." These are specific habits and attitudes and practices that represent routine, but they are usually a routine meant to increase understanding or alignment with truth.
And this is where TM systems come into play. If you look at all the most impactful systems, they all include "way of life" elements that are intimately intertwined with the other 3 elements, and they all involve routine, habits, growth, and reflection. Essentially, these way of life systems are all learning systems designed to enable a believer to practice manifesting a given system of belief in the real world, learning from that attempt, and then refining their knowledge and understanding.
Historically, these almost always involve repetitive habits of routine. Moreover, they are almost always somewhat difficult, and are always designed to create a degree of growth. Discomfort, progress, growth, and alignment with external ideals are all essential.
Thus, systems of change that bring you into alignment with a value system are almost always centered around routines, habits, schedules, and actions that you can take without fully understanding them, often with great difficulty. They are designed to create regular encounters with dissonance between yourself and the value system in predictable ways that foster growth.
I think this external ideal coupled with a system designed to highlight how you don't align with it is important. I don't think it's enough to "reveal your own internal beliefs" because doing that in a vacuum is highly inefficient as well as somewhat moot. You're *already* acting in accordance with your internal belief system. You don't have to do anything to make that happen. The only reason to do anything different than what you are doing is to align yourself to something that is somehow more desirable than what your current internal meta-habits are designed to optimize for.
This is where I think there is a part of our brains that we can tap into more for this sort of direction. The human capacity to recognize something outside of itself as an ideal to which we can aspire is powerful, and it's that capacity that we can then use and leverage by implementing time management systems that put us into those encounters such that we will grow closer to our ideal. Put another way, time management systems applied towards value systems are essential change management systems. And the recipe for human change is relatively straightforward: constant, repetitive contemplation on and attempts at replicating in action an ideal/dream. The more your TM system enables you to consistently encounter and practice your ideal and to grow towards it, the better able it is to help you implement your value system.
Put simply, it's all about what will get you to consistently and regularly apply focused attention towards the behavior/being you want to manifest more than the behaviors/being you wish to avoid.
Outside of time management, something that has to be dealt with is whether the religious belief is TRUE. Now, people are going to get all up in arms about that concept in today's world because we are so used to an accepted philosophy of individual truth. But in fact, that has never been a long-term successful strategy, even in the short time of the success of the often-lauded individualism of America. The success of the American model isn't because it denied truth, but because it highlighted and enabled a very important growth of a certain sort of truth that has been highly correlated with success in the past.
Notice here I'm not speaking of a religion or value system's ability to be completely "correct", but about its ability to express true beliefs. This is about the value system's ability to bring an individual into greater awareness and alignment with reality, and to act in accordance with that reality.
If the value system you have set up obfuscates reality for something else, rather than somehow bringing you as an individual further into alignment with reality (understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and truth), then I posit that no matter how efficiently you are able to implement it, you will always find yourself unable to succeed in either truly "living" those values or making progress towards them, because the system will undermine itself, no matter how good your time management.
But what all the great and most impactful value systems have in common is their capacity of changing the individual to align better with reality. And that's where I see things like time management taking a big place.
There are lots of religions that have stuck around but which are essentially "impotent" in terms of creating change in a majority of people's lives, either for good or ill. At worst they result in a net loss of productivity in society because they result in a bunch of ineffective people, but for the most part, that doesn't happen because, excepting for certain short time periods, such systems can't sustain themselves over a large group of people for a long enough time.
But among the others, which have made change, all of them involve, IMO, a few things:
1. They manifest a truth or system of belief that is outside of the individual, that the individual must work to align themselves with.
2. They come with a Law of some sort, which serves primarily to take something mystical and difficult to understand and turn it into something that can be used to discern actions from directly. This Law, whatever it is, is more about *teaching* than it is about following rules.
3. There are traditions. These represent practices that are designed to connect people over time. This has an important functional purpose, which is to embed knowledge and understanding which evolves over time but which cannot be easily expressed verbally through mental systems. They are a system of learning and habituation that are designed to ideally engender appropriate growth and meaning in the person.
4. There is a "way of life." These are specific habits and attitudes and practices that represent routine, but they are usually a routine meant to increase understanding or alignment with truth.
And this is where TM systems come into play. If you look at all the most impactful systems, they all include "way of life" elements that are intimately intertwined with the other 3 elements, and they all involve routine, habits, growth, and reflection. Essentially, these way of life systems are all learning systems designed to enable a believer to practice manifesting a given system of belief in the real world, learning from that attempt, and then refining their knowledge and understanding.
Historically, these almost always involve repetitive habits of routine. Moreover, they are almost always somewhat difficult, and are always designed to create a degree of growth. Discomfort, progress, growth, and alignment with external ideals are all essential.
Thus, systems of change that bring you into alignment with a value system are almost always centered around routines, habits, schedules, and actions that you can take without fully understanding them, often with great difficulty. They are designed to create regular encounters with dissonance between yourself and the value system in predictable ways that foster growth.
I think this external ideal coupled with a system designed to highlight how you don't align with it is important. I don't think it's enough to "reveal your own internal beliefs" because doing that in a vacuum is highly inefficient as well as somewhat moot. You're *already* acting in accordance with your internal belief system. You don't have to do anything to make that happen. The only reason to do anything different than what you are doing is to align yourself to something that is somehow more desirable than what your current internal meta-habits are designed to optimize for.
This is where I think there is a part of our brains that we can tap into more for this sort of direction. The human capacity to recognize something outside of itself as an ideal to which we can aspire is powerful, and it's that capacity that we can then use and leverage by implementing time management systems that put us into those encounters such that we will grow closer to our ideal. Put another way, time management systems applied towards value systems are essential change management systems. And the recipe for human change is relatively straightforward: constant, repetitive contemplation on and attempts at replicating in action an ideal/dream. The more your TM system enables you to consistently encounter and practice your ideal and to grow towards it, the better able it is to help you implement your value system.
Put simply, it's all about what will get you to consistently and regularly apply focused attention towards the behavior/being you want to manifest more than the behaviors/being you wish to avoid.
January 4, 2022 at 6:45 |
Aaron Hsu
Aaron Hsu
January 4, 2022 at 11:06 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
I think that Mark has addressed this somewhat in "Do It Tomorrow" when he talks about balancing life at the level of commitments, not tasks or projects. Ideals we live by give direction to our commitments, from which all our actions ultimately derive in some way or another. I have been living with that thought for the last year, and recognize it to be true in my life. A helpful paradigm for understanding why my task list and calendar looks like it does. As I have been steeping in this thought for several months, I have come to another recognition...that in my life, all of my commitments derive in some way from "desire" and "joy". In order to understand where my commitments come from, I have to look in the direction of what I desire and where I find joy. This ties in to the original question on this thread..."I want to be a good Christian" is looking directly in the direction of where (ideally) a great deal of joy should come from.
By parsing out what actually brings me joy (as opposed to what I think I should do, or to what I think "should" bring me joy) can allow me to understand my desires more thoroughly, and then from that direction, make wiser decisions in my commitments, which eventually will trickle down to my TM.
By parsing out what actually brings me joy (as opposed to what I think I should do, or to what I think "should" bring me joy) can allow me to understand my desires more thoroughly, and then from that direction, make wiser decisions in my commitments, which eventually will trickle down to my TM.
January 8, 2022 at 17:31 |
Cafe655
Cafe655
So the structure of the thought I have been playing with is:
DESIRE>COMMITMENT>PROJECT>TASK>OUTCOME(S)
And a particular example of this in my life
LEARN>ICE SKATING>LEARN NEW SKATING TECHNIQUE>PRACTICE>ENJOY LEARNING, EXERCISE, REGULAR WRIST SPRAINS
So, in that real life situation, the fact that I was spraining my wrist came directly from my desire to learn. I am a decent skater, but since I was only ever interested in learning new skills, that meant I was constantly doing things I didn't know how to do. And regularly damaging my wrist, head or backbone was not a good fit for the rest of my life, so I removed ice skating from that formula, and inserted tennis, which led to the OUTCOME(S) of ENJOY LEARNING, EXERCISE AND RELATIONSHIP (with my buddy I was playing with).
This overall paradigm/formulation is very helpful to me. Since I now recognize that most, if not all of the outcomes in my life ultimately come from commitments that I make due to desires that I have, I can start to tinker more skillfully with the things I do each week (which is the horizon I focus on for most of my planning). I can ask about each task on my list, "What project is that part of, and what commitment led to that project, and what desire led to that commitment?" And like adding in, and then taking out skating and replacing it with tennis, which still fed my desire to learn and get that endorphin rush, I can tinker with the mix of projects and tasks to get a richer and more healthy, reinforcing mix. I can also somewhat diagnose dysfunctions in my life (like the sprained wrist) and see what needs to be added and removed to achieve a healthier overall set of outcomes in my life that is consistent with my desires.
At least, that is the theory that I am playing around with this year.
DESIRE>COMMITMENT>PROJECT>TASK>OUTCOME(S)
And a particular example of this in my life
LEARN>ICE SKATING>LEARN NEW SKATING TECHNIQUE>PRACTICE>ENJOY LEARNING, EXERCISE, REGULAR WRIST SPRAINS
So, in that real life situation, the fact that I was spraining my wrist came directly from my desire to learn. I am a decent skater, but since I was only ever interested in learning new skills, that meant I was constantly doing things I didn't know how to do. And regularly damaging my wrist, head or backbone was not a good fit for the rest of my life, so I removed ice skating from that formula, and inserted tennis, which led to the OUTCOME(S) of ENJOY LEARNING, EXERCISE AND RELATIONSHIP (with my buddy I was playing with).
This overall paradigm/formulation is very helpful to me. Since I now recognize that most, if not all of the outcomes in my life ultimately come from commitments that I make due to desires that I have, I can start to tinker more skillfully with the things I do each week (which is the horizon I focus on for most of my planning). I can ask about each task on my list, "What project is that part of, and what commitment led to that project, and what desire led to that commitment?" And like adding in, and then taking out skating and replacing it with tennis, which still fed my desire to learn and get that endorphin rush, I can tinker with the mix of projects and tasks to get a richer and more healthy, reinforcing mix. I can also somewhat diagnose dysfunctions in my life (like the sprained wrist) and see what needs to be added and removed to achieve a healthier overall set of outcomes in my life that is consistent with my desires.
At least, that is the theory that I am playing around with this year.
January 8, 2022 at 18:04 |
Cafe655
Cafe655
This is a very interesting discussion.
As I said earlier, the ideal time-management system would not only help you to reach your ideals and goals, but would also help you to find out what your ideals and goals are. As Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Imagine for a moment that you found the ideal time management system which banished all resistance and unerringly pointed you to the right thing to be doing at every successive moment in order to achieve your ideals and goals as easily and painlessly as possible. Having found this perfect system, what would you use it for?
You probably wouldn't use it to watch every series on Netflix while drinking endless six-packs of beer. Or am I being too optimistic?
And most of you (I hope) wouldn't turn into Dr. Evil with dreams of world conquest, shortly to become reality.
My guess is that once you'd started to realise the potential of this amazing system you would try it out on some fairly easy things which you'd always wanted to do, and then, as you gained confidence and experience, you would extend your range while getting a clearer picture of what you were capable of and what you wanted to achieve.
So to me, the sequence is System > Ambitions, rather than Ambitions > System.
As I said earlier, the ideal time-management system would not only help you to reach your ideals and goals, but would also help you to find out what your ideals and goals are. As Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Imagine for a moment that you found the ideal time management system which banished all resistance and unerringly pointed you to the right thing to be doing at every successive moment in order to achieve your ideals and goals as easily and painlessly as possible. Having found this perfect system, what would you use it for?
You probably wouldn't use it to watch every series on Netflix while drinking endless six-packs of beer. Or am I being too optimistic?
And most of you (I hope) wouldn't turn into Dr. Evil with dreams of world conquest, shortly to become reality.
My guess is that once you'd started to realise the potential of this amazing system you would try it out on some fairly easy things which you'd always wanted to do, and then, as you gained confidence and experience, you would extend your range while getting a clearer picture of what you were capable of and what you wanted to achieve.
So to me, the sequence is System > Ambitions, rather than Ambitions > System.
January 11, 2022 at 18:03 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
It occurs to me that for many of us, it's important that we live our lives according to certain values or ideals. These may derive from religion or moral philosophy or something else. A person who holds such beliefs wants to act in accordance with them to the best of his/her ability--which is not to deny that we fall short much of the time. Such goals as "being a good Christian" or "acting in accordance with utilitarianism" may well be foundational to a person's life.
I don't want to be highfalutin here. My interest is practical: How can time management systems (such as Mark's) help in the everyday pursuit of acting according to one's values (whatever those values may be)? Part of the difficulty of such goals as "being a good Christian" or "acting in accordance with utilitarianism" is the gulf between theory and practice. It is one thing to accept an ideal as valid and another to successfully choose (some of) what one does each day in accordance with that.
For instance, there is a well-known paradox in utilitarianism that calculating the consequences of every action would itself produce bad consequences, because it would be too inefficient to constantly have to weigh pros and cons. This doesn't invalidate utilitarianism. But it does seem to suggest that, in everyday life, we need a more intuitive approach to deciding what to do. However, it's difficult to see exactly what form this approach should take, and utilitarian philosophers tend to fall short on providing manuals for everyday living. (One solution might be to think long and hard about the major decisions in one's life--such as a career choice--but to let the minor stuff slide.)
Mark's books and systems have a lot to say about intuition and choosing what to do. "Dreams," for instance, seems apropos to the notion of intuitively acting in accordance with ideals. And Mark's list systems provide (among other things) a way of keeping track of many options and rapidly and easily making decisions. So, I can see how list systems might help one to act according to one's values. But, obviously, there's no simple solution here. For instance, you may find yourself doing a bunch of fun and distracting tasks on a long list instead of choosing charity work which would produce a better outcome. (Of course, I'm not suggesting that one should have no fun!)
Any thoughts on this topic? Needless to say, I'm trying to direct any conversation to time management systems. For the sake of this discussion, I presume that all value systems--religions, philosophies, etc.--are equally valid.