In one of the chapters of this interesting book, the authors explore:

• why some people have difficulties being on time;
• the influence of right or left brain dominance on time management;
• ‘five time zone’ time management
• how visualisation can improve your time management

Introduction
Imagine the setting. It could be a Friday business lunch or a Saturday night social. Half a dozen people are engaged in some general chit-chat when the conversation suddenly switches to the topic of time management. Immediately you can sense excitement in three or four of the group members. Their bodies become animated, they smile and look expectantly towards the speaker. You can almost hear them thinking, ‘Aha, maybe I can pick up a few new tricks   

The eyes of the remaining two or three group members roll towards the ceiling. Their heads tilt downwards. Their bodies turn slightly away from the speaker. Legs cross or uncross restlessly. For them, this topic is anathema. Why is it that the subject of ‘time management' elicits such a mixed response? For the answer, we need to go backwards in time.

Early conditioning
Since you were old enough to understand even the most vague meaning of the word, much of your world has been governed by time. ‘It's time to get up,' says a parent. Once you are ‘up', the day begins to go forward from one time phase to another. By the time you are old enough to go to preschool, at about age three, a daily time pattern has been established. You know that there is a time to eat breakfast, a time to go to kinder, a time to play, a time to have a bath, a time to go to bed. This is ‘other'-driven time, as parents, teachers and older brothers and sisters direct you through the day.

To increase your awareness of time even more, and instil in you a sense of responsibility for utilising your time, you will soon be introduced to the first ‘time prop'. This prop is known as the clock. We now begin to learn how to ‘tell time'. Can you recall your keen sense of satisfaction when you eventually found out what it meant when the big hand was in one place and the little hand in another?

Once the ‘others' were confident that you knew how to ‘tell time', they were ready to introduce some additional ‘props'—the wristwatch and the alarm clock. This added a new dimension to your concept of time. You were now able to regulate your own life without the ‘others'. You knew how to be ‘on time'. But wait a minute! Despite this knowledge of how to tell time, the use of an alarm clock and a wristwatch, some children just never seem to be on time. They are not deliberately late. It is more that they seem to be caught up in things which, to them, are more important than being on time. This capacity to not be on time does not always disappear when children become teenagers, as has been well documented.

And what happens once we are gainfully employed adults? We apparently know enough about life, commitment, planning, hiring and firing to make it our business to be on time, to make our scheduled appointments, to meet our deadlines. Or do we? And if not, why not, when your livelihood is at stake and the boss applies some pressure? You know what to do, you know how to do it, you just can't seem to do it on time.

Monochronic and polychronic time
Recent brain research provides some answers. The right and left hemispheres of the brain (see Chapter 2 (pp. 15–31)) also influence how we see and use time. The left brain thinks and works in monochronic time. This is objective time which can be externally measured in specific units such as days, hours, minutes, seconds. If you want to know how much time it will take before a printing machine will print fifty pages, and the manual says the machine prints at ten pages a minute, the answer can be objectively observed. It is straightforward and monochronic. Once the operator has set the machine to ‘go', you have five minutes before you can collect your papers.

If, however, you want to know how long it will take to make a person a skilled machine operator, the answer is more complex. We are now dealing with polychronic, or subjective, time. Such time cannot easily be measured because it varies enormously from individual to another. People with a strong preference for the right brain tend to see work in subjective terms. When their boss asks them how long it will take to complete a task, they feel uncomfortable and shy away from a time commitment. Their right brain is saying, How do I know how long it will take? What if I get a new idea? What if my intuition tells me to change something halfway through? How can I measure this in precise times?'

Unfortunately, most organisations (and most bosses) think about, see and place a value on work in monochronic terms. If there is a meeting to be held at 9.30 a.m., you are expected to be there, whether you are in the middle of a right-brain breakthrough for a new product or not. The important thing for the ‘system' is that you turn up at the meeting—on time. The same ‘rule' applies to social events. If you have a lunch appointment with friends for 12.30 p.m., they want to feel relaxed and confident knowing that you will be there at or about 12.30 p.m.

Becoming ‘centrebrained’
So how do you cope with a healthy need for subjective, polychronic, self-imposed time and at the same time fit in with the monochronic and objective time measures placed on us by society, organisations and bosses? Doing so means finding your centre or balance. I call this becoming ‘centrebrained' because it involved blending and integrating the left and right hemispheres of your brain. It means balancing outside, traditional time-management pressures with your own rhythm and inner needs, and learning to work with time, not against it. It is developing an `inside out' philosophy and approach on time. You can accelerate this process by adopting some or all of the following suggestions.

This is how you do it
The ‘five time zone’ concept
You are probably familiar with the idea of living a balanced life to enable you to function more effectively. We can apply the idea of balance to accelerate our ability to manage our time.

Think of this new way of managing time in terms of finding a balanced way to work within five basic `time zones'. The five basic zones are:

1. visions;
2. plans;
3. personal organisation systems;
4. commitment;
5. energy.

Imagine your time as a series of links in a beautiful daisy chain. The links are made up of five different components, arranged in a variety of uniquely satisfying ways. Each of these components is a `time zone'. How you string your chain together is up to you. As you become more `centrebrained', you will become more adept at stringing the links together as you move more comfortably within each zone. If any zone is out of balance, the link becomes weak and your chain is at risk of breaking. Once you have centred these zones, the concepts will flow naturally on to your other time management needs.

Centring Look inwards. Identify the person you choose to be. Set goals. Plan the steps. Create personal organisation systems. Develop commitment. Overcome procrastination. Radiate energy.

The centring process

• The centring process starts when you look inward. It means that you identify the person you choose to be.
• Doing this enables you to forge the first and strongest link in your chain, your visions. Once you have identified your visions you can use them to guide your goal setting.
• From there you can proceed to plan the steps which will help you achieve them.
• To assist in carrying out your plans, some personal organisation systems will be necessary.
• When you develop the commitment to overcoming procrastination, and finding enough energy, your chain will be complete.

My vision and goals . . . What is most important to me? What would I like to do if there were no limitations? What things in my life would I like to be different? My visions for myself are . . .

Developing zone one: Vision and goals
Begin within zone one, by getting in touch with the things which are meaningful for you. Free yourself up for some holistic, right-brain activity. Start by placing a piece of paper and some coloured pencils or pens in a handy position where you can reach them. Then perform some gentle exercise for five minutes. Stretch, bend and jog in place. Put some relaxing music on quietly in the background. Sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, and do some mind-calming deep breathing. Inhale to a count of two, hold for four counts, then exhale for two. As you gradually relax, imagine yourself lying in a soft place—a shady lawn, some sand on a beach, a fluffy cloud, a soft mattress—and as you are lying in this relaxing place, let your mind wander freely, thinking about what you would like to be, what you would like to achieve. Free of all constraints. Don't let negative, ‘I can't', left-brain thought intrude.

Search for visions, not tasks. These visions will be guided by your personal standards and values, and the direction you want to take. Consider what you would like to be able to do that you are not doing now, or what things in your life you would like to be different. After a minute or so, try to focus your mind on the two or three visions that feel the strongest for you—the ones which are most important. Once your visions have crystallised, open your eyes, pick up a writing implement and begin recording them. You can use words or pictures, or both, to capture the spirit of your visions.

Next you need to do some thinking to create goals from your visions and action steps from your goals. This requires being centrebrained. Your right hemisphere is needed to help conceive the goals and action steps; the left hemisphere is needed to record your ideas and turn it all into manageable action.

For example, if one of your visions is that you want to be the best provider of customer service in your industry, then your first goal might be to decrease the number of customer complaints by at least 50 per cent by the end of the financial year. This is a time-manageable goal. It meets the SMART criteria for goal setting.

SMART goals are Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time framed

For a goal to meet the SMART criteria, it must be:

• specific—the statement is clear and anyone reading it would know exactly what you mean;
• measurable, as a 50 per cent decrease is specified;
• attainable, within your experience and your resources;
• relevant, because it is an important part of your job;
• time frames, with the end of the financial year as your deadline.

Goal setting should always be tested against the SMART criteria. The time frames you have established will give you a perspective on priorities which you will need to consider as you do your planning.

If all your goals are long-term goals, you will probably want to set some smaller goals with a shorter time frame. Using the customer service example, having already established your long-term goal, a shorter term goal might be to have all frontline staff undertake a customer service training program. Before you move into your next time zone, it helps to have one final look at each of your goals. Take a brightly coloured pen or marker and identify those goals which are high-payoff with a circle or a highlight. This last review will tell you what you want to proceed with, and will suggest an order.

Developing zone two: Plans
Having established your goals, you now can move into zone two, plans. You can have a vision and set a goal, but you can't do either of them. A plan is needed to turn visions and goals into action. Planning is a logical, organised process which calls strongly on your left-brain skills. Writing things down and using some form of planning `tool' are keys to successful planning. If you are strongly right-brained, you may not find this easy. You may, for example, write things down and then forget to look at what you have written. You may have an expensive diary but forget to take it out of the briefcase in the morning. You may find that you never seem to have time to plan at all.

Planning tools
Finding a planning tool that works for you is the first step towards good planning. Many of the traditional planners and diaries on the market do not hit a creative nerve and act as 'turn offs' for right-brain dominant people. They are dull, colourless and lifeless. Try some imaginative approaches to recording your plan. Search for a diary or planner that you find attractive. Look for bright colours, attractive page layout, different shapes which appeal to your right brain. Alternatively, you might choose to look for a bound book with blank pages that you find interesting and would like to own and design your own page arrangement using geometric or other shapes or images. If you are forever losing things, using a bound book for planning may well help. Alternatively, draw up your plan on flipchart paper, with coloured felt pens, and tape it to the wall. Don't always stick to blue or black ink or pencil. Try writing plans for different projects in different colours. Use coloured 'flags', dots or symbols. The way you record your plan is not important, the plan is.

When you have recorded your plan, review it. Plan for high-payoff and low-payoff activities for high and low priorities. Then find a simple way to draw your eye's attention to the payoffs and priorities.

Developing zone three: Personal organisation systems (pos)

My action plan to develop my pos 1 2 3 4 5

Zone three encompasses your personal organisation system. Being centre-brained will help. You right brain will come up with creative ideas for systems; your left brain needs to go into overdrive to turn these ideas into practical solutions. Your planning tool, of course, is the first part of your system. But that is only one part. Organising your desk, your follow-ups, your paperwork, your physical environment are all part of your system. Here are some useful tips to help your personal organisation system:

1. Work space. Create an interesting and relaxing work space for yourself. Hang coloured pictures, have a flowering plant, bring in some attractive 'toys' which make you feel good. You spend an extraordinary amount of time in your work area. Why not make it as pleasant and comfortable as possible?
2. Basic tools. Have an organised briefcase with duplicates of your basic tools (pens, papers, paper clips, etc.) to avoid excessive transfer of materials from desk to briefcase and back again. If you are strongly right-brained, select tools which are colourful and different. If you want a Mickey Mouse pen, go for it!
3. Task organisation. Group similar tasks together, but limit the time you spend on each group. Forty to fifty minutes in any hour is enough. If you need to continue that task, have a ten- to twenty-minute break doing something completely different, preferably something relaxing. Each time you complete a task, you will become faster and doing better at doing it. If you have several letters to write, accounts to pay or journal articles to read, put them together into one time block and complete the group. Right-brain dominant people get excitement by always doing new things and they need to practise strong self-control to 'group'. The self-imposed time limit helps.
4. Follow up. Devise a good follow-up system-one that works for you. The stronger your right-brain preference, the harder it will be to find the 'right' system. If you are computer competent, there are many software packages which have features to help you follow up. For example, Windows has a reminder note speciality which pops into the screen when you start your program each day. You can find systems with alarms and other reminder capabilities, so check out the latest packages. Many organisations have purchased computer systems with an `in-built' follow-up feature. The most basic system is a quick note jotted on the desk calendar. Use special sections in your planner, or set up extra follow-up files in your four-drawer cabinet. Try using index cards. Coloured cards can be designated for different purposes-for example, yellow for customers, blue for projects, etc.
5. Paper handling. Learn to handle each piece of paper once only. That sounds like an old refrain, but do you follow the practice? Using the 'measles method' can stimulate the right brain and help get you into this habit. Sort your papers with a pencil in your hand. Each time you read a piece of paper, mark a small pencil dot in one of the corners. When your papers start to break out in measles, you know you are not following a basic rule of paper management.
6. Telephone calls. Start hearing telephone calls as potential connections and customers rather than as time wasters. Interruptions aren't necessarily all bad. Whether internal or external, it is always a customer calling. Give up playing telephone tag. Organise both your incoming and your outgoing call systems. For your outgoing calls, plan and group. Don't make sporadic calls throughout the day. Find a convenient time (for you and the receiver of your call) and make them in a series. Leave a very specific message about call-back time so your return calls are also grouped. Take a log of your incoming calls for a week and work out what strategies you can employ to cut them down. The 80/20 rule tells you that 80 per cent of your calls will come from 20 per cent of your callers. Find some other ways to get messages to that 20 per cent.

Developing zone four: Commitment
The three time zones we have discussed form links in a chain. There will be no chain, however, if you are still uncommitted and procrastinating about your goals. Or if you have prepared a brilliant plan but don't have the energy to complete the tasks. The fourth time zone is the zone of commitment, in which you manage any tendencies you might have towards procrastination.

Reasons why I procrastinate . . . 1 2 3 4 5

Identify why you are procrastinating
There are a host of reasons why people procrastinate. It is a bad habit and, like any habit, you need to decide that you want to change and then practise the change until it becomes a new good habit. It may help you start if you can identify the reason(s) why you procrastinate. Use a procrastination notebook. Each time you sense you are procrastinating, jot down your reasons by getting yourself to respond to the questions what, where, when, why and how. Keep track of the games and excuses you use, categorise them and look for patterns.

Pay attention to what you are thinking when you put things off. What are the excuses you make to yourself? These barriers to action are self-imposed. Are they logical, emotional or ethical? It is most common to feel negative about getting started if you are feeling overwhelmed because of a single task seems unmanageable, or if you feel overburdened with an enormous list of tasks. Your subconscious may be giving you the 'logical' message that the job can't be done. One way around this is to split the job into a series of smaller, manageable tasks which, logically, can be done. Perfectionism and boredom are also factors, as are our fears-of risk, of loss of autonomy, of loss of control, of success because the 'prize' may be more hard work. These can be very real emotional barriers to action if we don't acknowledge them to ourselves.

Self-esteem plays a big part in procrastination. If you are plagued by doubts about your self-esteem, you might like to have another look at the section on 'Motivation and self image' in Chapter 3 (pp. 36-8).

If you fear failure because you believe you lack skill, experience or knowledge, then the inclination to procrastinate will be very strong. One of the best ways to procrastinate without appearing to procrastinate is to play a game with yourself called 'when'. To play, you pretend that you are not procrastinating but justify your delay by saying that you will do something 'when' the time is right, or 'when' you are not so busy, or 'when' you are inspired, or 'when' you have the right computer programme, more information, things aren't so hectic-the list is as endless as the procrastination.

Break the mental blocks
Procrastination is a mental block which needs to be broken. One way to do this it to identify the real reason for the procrastination, your personal logical, emotional or ethical barrier to action. Once this has surfaced from the subconscious to the conscious, strategies can be brought into play to deal with it.

Defeat procrastination through visualisation
The next time you are procrastinating over something that needs to be done, take fifteen minutes to unblock and deal with it now.

Activity: Using visualisation to overcome procrastination Find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted. Sit in a comfortable chair with feet flat on the floor. Close your eyes and relax. Visualise the number five. As you see the number, gradually let it fade away. Then see the number five again. Let it fade and bring it back again a third time. Then see the number four and repeat the process with the numbers four, three, two and one. After you have visualised the number one, see yourself standing in front of that one. Then feel the one being absorbed into your body, moving through your body and slowly disappearing. If you are not relaxed at this point, you can repeat this exercise. In this relaxed state, visualise a clock and see the time on the clock set for two minutes before you will be starting your task. You can image any type of clock you wish: alarm, digital, cuckoo. When you can see this clock strongly, visualise yourself getting ready to do the task over which you have been procrastinating. Visualise organising papers, moving to another place, whatever you would be doing to get ready for your task. Now visualise your clock again. The time has moved and it is now time to start your task. Mentally see the clock on the new time. Now create a visual image of yourself doing the task. Imagine what you will be wearing, your surroundings, any people who will be involved. Imagine yourself becoming totally absorbed in this activity. Notice any associated sounds and feelings. Make this image as strong as possible. Observe the positive sensation of completing this task. As you focus on your activity, make a strong, positive affirming statement to yourself: 'I am successfully completing this task.' As you repeat this affirmation, see yourself successfully completing the task. Feel the positive sensations that come from success. Smile gently. Now visualise your clock once again. See that the time has progressed to the time when you will have finished your task, perhaps an hour, perhaps a day. You can repeat this exercise whenever you feel procrastination overtaking you.

To help you even further, try one or all of these five anti-procrastination tricks to get you centrebrained:

1. Consider the 'worst first' rather than 'worst last' approach-eat your broccoli first and then enjoy your chicken and potatoes rather than the other way around.
2. Take 'baby steps' by breaking a job into small bits and pieces to make it more manageable: make a list on paper of each step; try making six phone calls instead of twelve or writing a first, very rough draft rather than trying to finish the entire document. Remember that you don't have to start at the beginning, you just have to start.
3. Use visible reminders to jog your right hemisphere into action. Hang up stick-on notes, signs or pictures in prominent places.
4. Agree with yourself to work on something for only four minutes. This often gets you started and if you stop after four minutes, at least you have completed that much of your task.
5. Go public. Tell a trusted friend or colleague when you should be starting a task and ask them to remind you. Ask them to be persistent.

There is such a thing as purposeful procrastination. This is when you really do need more information, when it may be valuable to wait and see, or when you need a change of pace or a little break. Under those circumstances, it may be valuable to procrastinate-but not for too long. Accept this as a deliberate delay, rather than just more procrastination, and allow yourself to feel OK about it.

Developing zone five: Energy
The final factor that keeps the chain together is zone five, the energy zone. Energy creates more energy. Research shows that we get energy from excitement, positive stress, doing new things, being creative, daydreaming, being passionate, taking a risk relaxing, having a challenge, being optimistic, exercising, being committed to goals, having a healthy work environment and balancing work and 'play'. We also become more positive and productive when we get our body rhythms, body cycles and biological clocks in balance. Prime time is when you feel most alert and capable of creative thought and high productivity. Most of us are either fowls (morning people) or owls (night people). Fortunately, flexitime gives us some opportunity to use our prime time more effectively. This is when you should be scheduling high-priority, high-payoff tasks.

Find your prime time Internal and external prime time Cognitive tasks for the morning Complete high-energy tasks in high-energy periods Take energy breaks

If you don't already know your prime time, jog in place for five minutes early in the morning, in the middle of the morning, at mid-afternoon and at late afternoon. Do this on a non-working day. Whichever session leave you feeling the most invigorated is your prime time. Some of us have an internal prime time when we are at our best working alone and in deep concentration, and an external prime time when we are best working with people.

Short-term memory is best in the morning, long-term in the afternoon. The mornings are best for cognitive tasks, mid-afternoon for the 'mindless' tasks. Late afternoon and early evening are when we get the most out of a physical workout.

You can gain more energy by getting in touch with your body clock and learning to organise high-energy tasks in high-energy periods and vice versa. Building variety into your day is vital to stimulating the right brain and rest is vital for the left, which tends to get overworked in our left-brain organisations. Take regular short mini (two to five minutes) energy breaks throughout the day and alternate physical activities with desk work. Check your office surroundings, as the environment you work in can sap or strengthen your energy levels.

Get up fifteen minutes earlier each day to avoid the early morning rush and arrive at work before the chaos begins, have a supportive network of friends and give someone positive feedback every day-about anything. Keep working within the five time zones to accelerate your time management. It is the journey, not the arrival, that ultimately matters.

Recapping the key points Monochronic time can be objectively measured; polychronic time is subjective. By adopting a centrebrained approach we can balance external time management pressures with our own rhythm and inner needs. The five links in the centrebrained approach are vision, plans, personal organisation systems, commitment and energy. The links combine left- and right-brained thinking. Procrastination can be overcome by identifying why one is procrastinating, breaking the mental blocks and visualising the successful completion of a task while in a relaxed state. Sometimes procrastination can be useful. When you identify your prime time(s) (the time(s) of day when you are most energetic and alert), you can schedule key activities for these times.

Extract from: Switch on Your Mind: Accelerative Learning Strategies at Work. Lewis, Justus and Storz, Moni Laui (1997) Sydney: Allen & Unwin, pp. 80–94.