Who Is Behind the Task Management & Time Blocking Summit?
Hi,
You know enough about the summit to ask yourself, “Who is behind this?” You’re interested in your professional growth, but where exactly is this all coming from?
Well, I’m Francis Wade and I am the founder of the Task Management & Time Blocking Summit. I also host a podcast by the same name.
We launched the summit in 2020, the week before COVID hit North America and things began shutting down. But that wasn’t the start of the journey for my wife Dale and I.
That probably started in my undergraduate days, when I used time blocking to complete my studies at Cornell University. Looking to accelerate my program in Operations Research, I ran afoul of the engineering school’s rules. As the dean explained ruefully, “No, you can’t squeeze both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees into four years! It just doesn’t work that way.”
Stressful school days quickly turned into a relatively normal pace while I worked at A&T Bell Labs, my next stop. However, when I started my own company five years later, I once again picked up the challenge of being a “Mega-Tasker”…someone who is trying to get a lot done and assigns themselves lots and lots of time demands.
Today, I live in Kingston, Jamaica, but I retain strong ties to the United States – the land of my birth. In fact, the move to Jamaica served as the spark for my programs, books and all the other work I do in this area. As a Mega-Tasker, I am looking for help to continue learning and growing.
Perhaps you’re here wondering if the summit is for you, and if you’ll find people who are just like you.
Well, if you’re someone who is ambitious and a bit driven, with some Type A tendencies and an urge to be productive, you’re in the right place. Mega-Taskers create a lot of tasks for themselves, and are likely to have a lot of energy. It often gets applied to their jobs, families, sports, hobbies…anyplace their energy can make a difference,
But they don’t like to see it go wasted, and they want to fix errors in their task management whenever they crop up.
That may be why you’re here. You have already sensed that one-size-doesn’t-fit-all, and simplistic thinking which produces superficial answers fails us all. While a beginner may benefit from following a guru’s words carefully, and faithfully, your progress is reliant on different skills.
You need to be innovative, a good researcher, open to new technologies, willing to experiment and resilient to failure. It’s the only way to make progress in task management beyond the newbie stage.
Our gathering in 2023 will be a unique place where people who realize this fact will come together. While this is our fourth event, our “One-Size-Doesn’t-Fit-All mantra is a new rallying cry. Together we hope to move the needle for all productivity enthusiasts…even those who are still following a guru.
When the needle moves, we should be able to help folks realize some big dreams. Maybe even gain some shortcuts.
I hope you find this to be true and join us on this journey!
This website, summit and podcast are not affiliated with, approved, or endorsed by David Allen or the David Allen Company, which is the creator of the Getting Things Done® system for personal productivity. GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.