“I only really thought much about time when I was in a time crunch. It was always just there in the background and leapt out when time became an issue. But now I have a whole new relationship to time. As a result, I now see that I always have plenty of time rather than not enough time. Time is now on my side rather than my always working against the clock. It is remarkable how simple things become when we are no longer trapped by our long-held beliefs about time.”
-Steven Donner
What is Time Navigation?
Time navigation is dancing with the chaos the universe offers up, like the pilot who navigates the weather. when we stop trying to manage time and start navigating it, we find real freedom to create, collaborate, and contribute to everyone we touch whether they be family, friends, colleagues, managers, or clients we serve.
We navigate through time every day but we also have the nerve to think we can control the chaotic universe we inhabit. It is so much bigger than us – yeah trillions of galaxies each with billions of stars. When we attempt to manage time we are attempting to control a merciless universe that will laugh at us and crush us every time we try. This is why so many Time Management Systems were purchased with enthusiasm, yet barely used and not for very long.
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Five Paragons of Time Navigation
Turn all unexpected obstacles and unforeseen opportunities
into stepping stones to success!
Below are five Paragons of Time Navigation that are consistent with structures throughout the universe. They define how we can fit ourselves into the universe more effectively. Navigating through time requires that we let go of our many unfounded assumptions about traveling through time. When we install structures that mirror the design of the universe, we turn a powerful universe into our partner.
The universe does not care if we get through time effectively. It does not care if we make it to our appointment at noon. To make the universe our partner. we have to become its partner by operating as it does, by following the structures it provides. Once you install these paragons, you will develop your natural skills and thereby significantly elevate your performance as you travel through time.
Paragon 1
Model
Plan
Actual
Our chaotic universe refuses to be controlled. To navigate the chaos you must follow the following steps. Once you choose a time frame for action, you follow these three steps to ensure that your actual is better than your plan.
- Model: Build an ideal Model which will serve as a map for your week
- Plan: On that map, develop a Plan adjusted for the current week.
- Actual: Record the Actual as it unfolds and make improvements.
Paragon 2
Critical
Essential
Optional
Most forms of activity prioritization are subjective rather than objective and foster interpretation. Systems such as 1, 2, 3, or A, B, C will always lead you to making interpretations of facts. CEO is an objective reality-based approach.
- Critical: This means ASAP or at a clearly set time.
- Essential: These are all tasks that must be done this week.
- Optional: This means events that can be cancelled or postponed.
Paragon 3
Preparation
Implementation
Completion
High performers, like athletes and actors, know this paragon well. They achieve their results because they always take these steps.
- Preparation: Knowing what you will do then practicing and preparing.
- Implementation: Doing it on the playing field of life, work, and play.
- Completion: Review your overall performance by looking for where it can be improved in the future and then making the improvements
Paragon 4
Executive
Management
Work
People rarely take the time to think up new ideas and often they fail to plan appropriately so their work time is much harder and less effective.
- Executive Time: This is time to get creative and think up new ideas.
- Management Time: This is time to plan and organize the actions to be taken by oneself and others.
- Work Time: This is time to get work done, dancing with the chaos with clear thinking, and a good plan.
Paragon 5
Development
Performance
Fulfillment
Most of us focus on performance at the expense of our skill development and personal fulfillment. Balancing these three legs is a game changer.
- Development: Block out time needed for development of your skills.
- Performance: Set time blocks for you to maximize your activity and productivity.
- Fulfillment: Take on fulfillment as a job that needs precise planning and execution – do not veg out.
Paragon is defined as “a pattern of excellence or perfection”. Paragons are universal generating principles that can unleash enormous power from within a person, a team, or an enterprise. No one knows what a Paragon looks like so we made it up so that you can get a visual sense of why they are so important, how they work, and what they are. Think of the three components of each Paragon as the legs of a tripod. Most people have only one leg in place which means a lot of juggling to keep things from falling apart. With two legs of the tripod in place, things are a bit more stable, and there is less struggle to maintain balance. When the three legs are all working together, we get to walk away and let what we have put in place stand on its own as one of the stronger structures in the universe.
But they don’t just stand there. They are also like little engines in which the three parts work together to generate power. The first leg we call the Generator. The second leg is the Operator. And the third is the Regulator. These are our Paragons – Generator, Operator, Regulator – which are found in everything that we touch. In an organization, there are always the executives and selling agents who are the Generators, the managers and supervisors who are Operators, and the attorneys and accountants who are the Regulators. This core generating principle can be found hidden everywhere in the chaos.
The Time Navigator offers professional people at all levels, from brand new to super-senior, a way to push aside their accumulated time management thinking that doesn’t work and turn a chaotic universe into a full-time partner so that everything works in their favor.
Core Principles of Time Navigation
Get Up From The Passenger Seat And Step Into The Pilot’s Seat In Your Own Game.
Pilot’s have a destination, a flight plan, gauges, controls, and skills. Passengers have a seat on the plane, luggage in a compartment, a seat belt, potato chips, and a video. You can choose to be a passenger, or the pilot, in your journey in life.
Pilots don’t control the weather but they can navigate it. Rather than interpret the situation, they make observations then take actions in accord with the observed facts.
“I never could seem to get things done on time and that seriously compromised my effectiveness at work. In my business there are always many obstacles and opportunities that could easily take me off course. My work life was about daily crisis management and reacting to the unforeseen challenges that came along. Now I can navigate these things which are no longer distractions but have become stepping stones to greater effectiveness and success in my job.”
-Mel Jacobs
The more we stop managing time, the better we can navigate time.
Our Time Navigation eBook explores the nature of time which exists only in the minds of human beings and nowhere else in the universe.
“Over the years I had bought a number of time management systems at no small expense. Each time I’d have great enthusiasm and the hope of getting a better handle on managing my time more effectively and getting things more organized. I fell on my face every time because I had no idea that no matter how great the system, the idea of managing time was a myth. Now, I have given up on controlling my time and am navigating it with remarkable effectiveness.”
-Sam Williams
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Discover Tools That Can Maximize Your Performance!
By using these tools you will naturally shift away from trying to control what happens in time
and take better command of your journey through time.
The Time Navigator offers four highly dynamic tools that you will not find anywhere else. With the Time Navigator tools, you create an entirely new relationship with time such that you always have enough time to get everything done completely. The ingrained thinking we have that we can manage time is our biggest obstacle to high performance. People struggle to get organized and only seem to get less and less effective. Finally they silently resign to that there just isn’t enough time. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are 168 hours in a week, the same for a homeless person and a billionaire. So 168 hours has to be plenty of time since that is all we have.
Weekly Activity Calendar
Make your actual better than your plan
The WAC offers a framework for creating a Model Week, Plan Week, and Actual Week into which we can install the Time Navigation Paragons. It gives the full week picture in these three forms plus a feature for preparing and completing the week so you can maximize your performance.
Daily Activity Planner
Efficiently navigate through each day
The DAP offers a Model, Plan, Actual view for each work day of the week. Here you can start with the Model for the day from the model week and create a Plan for the week which will not match the Model. Then you will track your Actual so it can become better than your plan.
Daily Activity Agenda & Journal
Make sure everything gets done on time
The DAA & Journal offer a way to capture a full list of projects to focus on and action items, some of which appear on a scheduler, that ensure the tasks get completed, abandoned, or transferred to another day. In the Journal, you will capture any and all ideas and actions for the future.
Weekly Activity Tracker & Report
Assess your performance improvement
With the WAT & Report you will be able to track how you are using your time for activities that are Critical, Essential, or Optional, and for all Paragons. This data gets formulated into a report that shows your time navigation profile.
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Time Navigator Support Options
Dance With the Chaos and Maximize Your Performance!
To accelerate the development of your piloting skills and the application of the Time Navigator Tools, it will help to get some support. Some support options like Computer Assisted Learning (CAL), where the application offers support directly, are built into the application. We add in a delayed-response human element with Online Virtual Collaboration to address technical questions. The next levels of support come with Online Private Coaching and Online Group Programs which introduce an interactive human element to support your results.
Computer Assisted Learning
Built-In Direction & Guidance
CAL stands for Computer Assisted Learning. A blue icon that gives big-picture guidance can be seen throughout the modules and tools that gives big picture guidance. VAL, a green icon, gives specific step by step directions and definitions.
Virtual Collaboration
Interact Online With Colleagues
Built into the learning modules and tools is the ability to collaborate with a colleague, mentor, or manager in a delayed response mode within each application. It allows multiple collaborators to work together.
Regular Private Coaching
Ono-On-One Virtual Sessions
These are regularly scheduled sessions 30 to 60 minutes weekly or biweekly. The purpose is to give in depth coaching on the materials being learned and unraveling any performance blindspots that may be limiting success.
Group Learning Programs
Intensive Peer-Group Learning
In these regularly scheduled 60 to 90 minute group programs participants learn from each other. People in this peer group setting are able to learn from the mistakes and successes of others increasing the velocity of learning.
