Kate Cecil, Kelsey Joy, Sarah Covington

Time Warrior Summary, Interviews, Questions and Survey Link

Time Warrior is written by Steve Chandler and is a self-help book on how to overcome procrastination and to win the war against interruption and distraction.  A non-linear time management model is used to better describe ways to carve out time for space and silence from the busy everyday lives we all live.  Non-linear time management allows us to create our best energy for everything.  We can choose to perceive every circumstance as an opportunity to grow and stay on our missions.  Here are some main points that we feel were the most important and applicable.

·      Chapter 3:  How does a person make time in their day for the things that need to be done? By cutting out the unnecessary things like people pleasing and seeking others approval, someone will have a lot more time in their day for the more important things.  A time warrior is a peaceful warrior while still being a warrior.  Taking a sword to the things that are time wasters can help create a more beneficial day. 

·      Chapter 5: In order to accomplish tasks, you must pull out your time warrior sword ahead of time and carve out periods of space and silence.  In our lives, we don’t stop to take a long walk full of deep conversation or sit and watch the sun rise.  One hour of uninterrupted time is worth three hours of time that is constantly interrupted.

·      Chapter 8: Someone who commits to something on the inside is more willing to be fully committed to something because their whole body and mind is committed.  When making goals, short term goals are ideal because with long-term goals you have to worry about sticking with something for a long time.  Short-term goals are ones that when finished, you feel accomplished.  Process goals are short simple goals that are fun and brief.  The worst thing is to be so worried about your future that you forget to actually create it.  The small process goals can be small goals that lead to a bigger more complex goal.  Don’t create your year, create your day. 

·      Chapter 9: A time warrior removes his or her sword and dismembers her procrastination.  To overcome procrastination, start small (the smaller, the better.) The mind makes all the future tasks big and scary, therefore we procrastinate. Even little things that are in the future are big and scary in our mind.  Taking three minutes a day of zen action and there will be a greater reward. 

·      Chapter 16: It really isn’t failure that scares people, it’s the appearance of failure and the constant need for approval from other people.  Time warriors don’t feel the need to be liked by other people, they worry about themselves and not what other people think of them. 

·      Chapter 23: The fastest way for a person to transform from a victim or pessimist into a warrior is through inspiration.  When someone is inspired, it is a reflection of what they did for themselves and how hard they valued themselves. 

·      Chapter 30: Time management is actually problem management.  A time warrior is faced with a problem and captures the problem, or writing it down.  Writing down a problem removes it from the emotional realm of “something horrible” and takes it from the back of your mind. This allows you to try and address it with a clear mind and not put it off. 

·      Chapter 35: What people think they are yearning for is to have the externals in their live change: other people, outside circumstances, cash flow, romance, behavior of children, you name it. However, what they discover is that outside changes makes no inside change.  Happiness grows from the inside out. Shift your yearning from the outside to yourself, and then you can start becoming fulfilled.

·      Chapter 37:  A time warrior’s war is against distraction! How many little heads do we saw off in our own war against distraction? How many Spartan disciplines do we introduce that counter today’s information attacks that keep us distracted from our missions?

·      Chapter 42: The only way for a warrior mind shift to work is for one to create (daily) an entirely fresh future for oneself, and commit to living it now. Each day one’s commitment must be refreshed, renewed and rebooted; it won’t “stick” on its own until it is.

·      Chapter 46: Your problem is not time management. You have a mission problem. When you do not have an exact and clear mission in mind then the demands of people around you interfere. Know when to say yes and no. The first thing you need to create is boldness, which is the ability to be brave and strong in staying on mission.

·      Chapter 47: What gets measured gets done.

·      Chapter 49: Just do it. List three things you have procrastinated on and do those three things.

·      Chapter 56: Whatever it is you are not doing, notice that you are choosing not to do it. Choose too, choose not to, same power. There is nothing wrong with you and there is no weakness or lack of willpower is no gene for procrastination. It’s always a conscious choice.

·      Chapter 61: Learn to welcome everything. How we act and feel are not caused by circumstances but rather by our perception of them. The perception you have of anything is always what drives your feelings and your actions and your thoughts.

·      Chapter 71: Don't force things to happen to you and use the inner power and genius that was given to you. To do this you should create time for yourself that is free of distraction. 

·      Chapter 72: When it comes to a relationship a lot of our valuable time goes towards finding the perfect mate. One quote from the book that I found was very valuable and true was that "people fall in love with stories instead of people. We fall in love with a story called wealth instead of life's wealth." 

·      Chapter 73: The key to beating procrastination is beginning. The problem isn't that we aren't doing something it's that we aren't beginning it. This could be because we often associate tasks with negative beliefs. To overcome these beliefs you must look into what about the tasks makes you not want to start it. Ways to do this are to write down the belief and deeply think about it or to simply push the thoughts aside and just begin. This is called the warriors challenge in the book. 

·      Chapter 74: This book strongly focuses on the concept of "today". For example, the author suffered from an alcohol addiction. One thing that he noted throughout his recovery process was not that he think about never drinking again but rather think about today. Tomorrow is not here yet so we should not focus on it. 

·      Chapter 76: There is no greater waste of time then perusing unavailable partners yet in this society we do it all the time. We always make up excuses such as "the heart wants what it wants." there is no point to these relationships because they always end in pain, sadness and regret. 

·      Chapter 78: A person shouldn’t label things as impossible. We put too many things in the category of being unreachable or impossible. If you believe everything is unreasonable then you will never be able to unleash the potential inside you. To break this cycle find a task that you see as I possible and find someone who is willing to partner with you and defeat this so called impossible task. This will allow you to trick your mind and things that you previously believed to be impossible will no longer be. 

·      Chapter 80: A life purpose is important but it can't always be figured out easily. It is important to get out in the world and get involved. It also important to realize you shouldn't chase dreams and goals. This often causes you to miss opportunities that could be life changing. 

·      Chapter 82: Living in the moment can be very beneficial. Stress for things such as homework comes from thinking about a future deadline but that is not today. Plan what you need to do each day to meet that deadline, then there won't be overwhelming stress. 

·      Chapter 85: Don't let your life become based on a story that you have in your head. It's also not important to think about characteristics that you lack. It's also important to remember that other people struggle. An example that was given in the book said "if I want to play guitar like Clapton, I can start learning some chords today and realize that Clapton did this very thing, struggled to form these very first chords. So my vision of being Clapton is already happening right now."

·      Chapter 101: If you hear a voice in your head telling you can't do something or that you aren’t good enough to be something, do it anyways. You can do anything you want if you just practice at it. "today give all that you have, for what you keep inside you lose forever"

QUESTIONS:

1.     What is the importance of goal setting?

2.     What are process goals?

3.     What is a good example of a goal?

4.     What are ways to achieve that goal?

5.     What are ways to be proactive in reaching your everyday goals?

6.     What is a non-linear time management model?

7.     What are ways to plan effectively?

8.     What are steps to take to overcome procrastination?

9.     What are some daily interruptions?

1. What are ways to manage daily interruptions?

1. What is a time warrior?

1. Do you agree with Stephen Chandler’s time warrior approach to managing your time?

INTERVIEWS:

For our first interview, we interviewed Gerard. We met Gerard in the cafeteria at the university. The first question we asked him was what is a current goal that he has. Gerard said that he wanted to become a teacher in primary education. We then asked him what he was doing to achieve his goal. He said that he is going to school to get his degree. We asked him how he stayed organized and he said that he had a routine. In the morning before school he eats at home and then goes to the gym for an hour. At night he studies for an hour before dinner. We then asked what keeps him distracted. Gerard said social media and television. 

For the second interview we talked to Caner. We met Caner on the beach. He is here on vacation from turkey. We asked him the same series of questions as Gerard. He is currently going to school to get his to get his MBA and his goal is to finish. We asked him how he stayed organized and he said that held “intel” meetings with the employees at his family business. We asked what distracted him from accomplishing his goal and he said that the family business really stressed him out and he felt he had a responsibility to it and it just took a lot of time Away from his studies. 

The next person we interviewed was Joaquin. Joaquin is friends with caner. We met him on the beach as well. He is currently starting his own business. To accomplish this he is investing a lot of hours into his work and making new contacts. He stays organized because he knows his schedule and him and his partner get together and plan their schedules. What distracts him is doing things that aren't best for earning money. 

For the last interview we talked to Maria. We met Maria while eating lunch at McDonald's. Her goal is to have a career in something that she really enjoys. To accomplish this she has to continue her education. She isnt very organized but she trys to make lists sometimes and she keeps a planner. Things that distract her are her friends and socializing because she would much rather be with them than to study.

LINK TO SURVEY:

http://www.effective-time-management-strategies.com/time-management-survey.html