Welcome! If you skipped over my Home and Start Here pages, I suggest you read them first.

What is ScheduleU? Where did it originate?

There were two pivotal moments in my career as a Mega-Tasker.

The first occurred when I moved to live Jamaica in 2005 from the USA.

While I learned to time block my tasks in the 1990’s I did so non-stop until I second-guessed my skills as I struggled to adapt to live in a developing country.

Desperate to fix things, I took the advice of a popular guru who argued that time blocking was wrong. So, I quit and went back to using a To-Do List…which only made things worse. While I can explain what happened in retrospect, it was all very confusing and annoying at the time. I knew no-one who understood.

So, I started delving into academic research, separating authors whose findings were based on empirical, peer-reviewed evidence rather than personal experience and anecdotes (“anecdata.”)

The answer?

I needed better time blocking skills to cope with a more hectic, unpredictable Caribbean life…not fewer. So i went back to time blocking and made several upgrades from there.

The second moment occurred a few weeks after I published Perfect Time-Based Productivity.

Dr. Melanie Wilson, author of A Year of Living Productively, wrote an excited note to tell me about a new app she found called SkedPal. After a lot of testing, I made the switch to using this AI-driven auto-scheduler and, once again, everything changed.

Including my book…which now needed to be rewritten!

While you may never move to the Caribbean or switch to using SkedPal, we want you to consider ScheduleU as a place to make these kinds of changes based on the latest research and technology. We wont tell you what to use.

However, we will teach you how to use approaches like ETaPS to make the changes necessary to increase your capacity to manage more tasks.

This is the approach I wish I had known when adjusting to life in Jamaica. For Mega-Taskers, change cant just come from the outside. In fact, it originates with a deeper understanding of what you are currently doing, colored by the latest knowledge.

Select Publications

This special report took about two years to write, requiring me to delve into fields such as psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. This paper brings them together in a single place, perhaps for the first time to answer a question in a single deep dive.

These three articles tackle the problem of managing three selves rolled into one. The Notified Self is made up of the Interrupted Self, The Warned Self and the Informed Self. They all describe ways we use technology and information to alter and shape our daily behavior and increase our productivity. The main purpose of these articles is to coach people to manage their environment and their tools in ways which are empowering.

Task management apps are usually designed to be little more than databases – dry and uninviting. Starting with my experience using an auto-scheduler, I argue that much more can be done to gamify task management apps so they become engaging opportunities for users which are immersive and fun. This goes far deeper than merely making the GUI “fresh” or “clean.”

This article brings together two opposing and sometimes contentious points of view. Schedulers and Listers sometimes claim their approach is best and in this article I show where they both are correct, to some degree.

This second edition of my book is enhanced with the content developed on the use of auto-schedulers for time blocking.

We have also launched an online community for Mighty-Taskers, most of whom use time blocking.

Here are other general resources in which you may have an interest.

Francis Wade‘s biography. If you’re looking for something simple and short, use this:

Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. With BS and MEng degrees from Cornell University, he taught at the University of Phoenix at the MBA level for several years. Francis is a bi-weekly columnist for the Sunday Jamaica Gleaner’s Business Section and hosted the Time Blocking Virtual Summit in 2020. He has spoken at the Association for Talent Developments Conference twice.

My disclaimer – I have a material interest in SkedPal.

The 2Time Labs’ blog.

Twitter accounts – one here and another here.

Infographics on Pinterest.

Instagram – @2timelabs

Plus I answer ongoing discussions and Q&A’s on Quora and Reddit.

In addition to working with individuals, we also work with companies. Some are startups which are designing a new application. For example, we played a small role in shaping version 2 of SkedPal.

We also deliver live and online programs within companies, plus individual programs to individuals. More information on these can be found at MyTimeDesign.com.

If you would like to contribute to the work we are engaged in here at ScheduleU, consider joining the inner circle of patrons at my Patreon page.

It’s great to have you here and please use the contact page to ask me any questions you wish, or set up a complimentary consultation via phone or Skype.