Morpheus Coaching

I have noticed that a large number of searches that pick up this blog relate to time management in some way. The entries on ’in-time’ and ‘through-time’ concepts from NLP are accessed frequently and these are also very popular themes within my coaching sessions.

This posting considers ways of getting the best from both in-time and through-time approaches and suggests ways to build your ability to use each deliberately.

‘In Time’

Working ‘in-time’ is when you are absorbed into the moment and the experience. Being in-time is to be associated into the experience, an actor within the movie, often unaware of the environment around, in particular an ability to become unaware of time passing. Watch anyone engaged in a game on the X-Box or Play Station for instance, the experience for them does not include keeping track of time constantly! Imagine though, what the quality of experience would be of playing games, visiting places or engaging in crafts WITHOUT ‘getting into the moment’. living the moment is the whole point of it! My argument is that ‘in-time’ is where creativity lives and learning to manage in-time allows you to get the best from it.

In-time then is the experience zone of the two options; it is an important choice to utilise and use in many situations – it does however need some skill and support to use it effectively.

Tips on using ‘in time’ effectively.

1. Prepare yourself.
   Having lots of urgent things around can detract from any in-time experience, even to the extent of stopping it from happening. Effective ‘through-time’ skills can allow you to become absorbed without the concerns of “
   I ought to be doing xyz instead”. So, by utilising your ‘through-time’ skills you can get best access to ‘in’ time! Also recognise that ‘in-time’ although a sensory treat, is different from being an indulgence.
2. Prepare your environment.
   Have you got what resources you need to spend ‘in time’. Remember, resources include resourceful states, and being alert, confident, engaged, etc; these will make a big difference to the quality of the moment.
3. Prepare your extraction.
   Where your in-time activities are time bounded (for instance having an hour to do some creative thinking), ensure you have an efficient and effective alarm system that will help you to recognise time passing. Remember how easy it is to become in trance when you are absorbed, you need to have the comfort that you will know when to stop. An in-time trap for me is to get lost in google – as in following link after link and before I know it an hour’s passed! I set an alarm in outlook that comes on screen after half an hour and that works for me. I have picked up masses of useful information through just ‘dropping onto’ a site.
4. Creativity needs in-time thinking.
   How good are you at being creative? If you do not find it easy, consider using a creativity coach. Alternatively create an aide memoir with some prompting questions to help your creativity muscles start to work.

Through-time

When you operate ‘through time’ you take a disassociated position outside of the experience. Through time allows better planning and time control; taking a step back or outside gives an overview – the ability to hold the past, present and future out in front of you may sound an odd concept but watch how some people use hand gestures to indicate the past to the left, present directly in front and the future to their right!

1. Lay out your timeline.
    Create spacial anchors for the past, present and future (notional positions to the left, centre and right). Notice how far back your past line goes and how far in the future. Join up the past to the future – this is your timeline. View it at a 90 degree angle, looking at it as if it was held out in front of you. This helps you see what has been done, is underway, and what needs to be done in the future.
2. Know what is important and what is urgent.
   This is crucial in any time-management conversation. This allows you to prioitise effectively.
3. Use through-time to create time to spend in-time.
   Planning the use of time and controlling the plan is important. It does need to be used as a way of enabling time to be spent experiencing the moment.