Current page elements: (1) TLN synthesis view; (2) Life long action system; (3) Action system foundation; (4) Testing against current efforts; (5) How to do it

Go next: Explore the foundation building topics and links on this page, then go to the work approach and interest profile pages followed by the site map. On the site map explore the symbols above Synthesis (cloud) before proceeding to symbols below Synthesis OR see the navigation bar above (not recommended as an action approach)

Life-TIME investments (a site starting point)

Site exploration map

Time-Life Navigation © (TLN) work foundation

TLN system view (From the changing social and economic picture to work maps)

What's next? (a core framework: a thinking canvas for creating an immediate work map)

Five inter-related elements moving in time: organization evolution (main change vehicle); life design (main change beneficiary); work life (career) evolution (main change initiator); financial investing (golden goose); and a life navigation system (the action sequencer).

These five dimensions are layered on a time "terrain" awareness foundation (discontinuous change). This TLN synthesis is the site's topic and scope. Developing an adequate, long-term (multi-generational) work approach is the desired end result.

These are not separate subjects. It is more useful to view them as key dimensions of a dynamic reality that is both unique to each of us and yet interconnected. A reality "moving" in time, but not linearly. Download news analysis and perception.doc to test the previous assertions for yourself.

A dynamic view of the "time world" in which we are embedded



TLN Synthesis

This synthesis is at the core of social and economic development plus social wealth creation. It is also at the core of long-term self-interest. See payoff . This site is not just something else to read. It is at the core of what to do.

What evidence points toward a linear and predictable world
where tomorrows are extrapolations of yesterday
and just doing more and better of what's already known is adequate?
What happens to standards of living if the depicted system stagnates or an element is removed?

The roads ahead. The major focus of this site is navigating the unfamiliar roads ahead—not the familiar road behind. The unfamiliar road ahead is the conceptual space between today and the outer limit of concern on the changing social and economic picture time line (concept map image on left). These unfamiliar roads ahead are embedded in complex external systems that are dynamic (private, public, and social sectors; a society of organizations; a multitiered transnational economy and ecology; complex political structures; the NEW educated person--link). The opportunities of a life-time reside on the roads ahead, not on the road behind. The remainder of our lives occurs on the roads ahead. Currently the time-life navigation © site could be considered the ultimate resource for organizing the work associated with this navigation challenge.

Navigation implies intelligently choosing our destinations and then taking the action needed to reach those destinations, but how can we choose from unseen or unfamiliar options?

This time-life navigation © site provides a comprehensive action framework plus tools for developing a systematic, life-long work approach (in each of the five dimensions above). This framework is convenient, comprehensive, flexible and multi-generational. Our work approach serves our long-term interests only when it is in harmony with the disjoints and realities evident in the changing social and economic picture and related knowledge system view. Our work approach is sensible when it helps us navigate toward tomorrows and unimagined futures—major opportunities.

Life long action system. This page is part of a foundation and synthesis tool kit. This is not just another tactical document to read. It is something to do. (click SWP symbol). This site blueprints an action system into which everything else fits, is ignored or abandoned. Part of this system includes consciously deciding what to read (attention focusing), in what sequence, and how to process it.

This action system is based on a fundamental question: "What do I have to DO (informed in each of the five dimensions—illustration above) so I have the kind of life (informed) I want (informed) in a world with other people that interact through complex systems?" Imagine the different kinds of answers a person 10, 15, 20, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, or 85 years old would have. What about the differences between being informed and uninformed? How would answers vary between 1900, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1945, 1960, 1980, 1990, 2005 or 2020? So it should be obvious that different combinations of age, point in time, and levels of informedness lead to different answers. Add in geographic location differences and there are more different actions. With this in mind, what is the appropriate action? Or maybe what are the elements of the appropriate action?

This system is not just another add-on to an already busy life. It is at the core of consciously designing one's life. It is an outgrowth of the change in the basic human condition that has taken place in the last hundred years or so.

Action system foundation: Conceptual resources can provide a foundation for informed future directed decisions and creating a work map. Conceptual resources are also attention directing tools and therefore they enrich our mental terrain awareness and mental patterns. A work map is a collection of work modules arranged appropriately with one work module informing other work modules. A work map can be developed from an interest profile work sheet. The site map (at right) is a prototype work map that can be used to create a personalized work map. The work modules (and sub-modules) can be sequenced to form an immediate work plan. Adding some kind of infallible recurring reminder to return to a starting point and recreate (or validate) a new personalized work map makes it a life-long work approach and work plan.
Two of the site's features and part of a time-life navigation foundation are the collection of conceptual resources tables of contents and the system of getting from concepts to daily action. Both of these modules are present on the prototype blueprint (at right, above). The tables of contents (number 2 on the list below) provide both a conceptual overview and a menu for making a selection. The selection choices are: Use something from the list or NOT. If NOT is chosen then the selection choices are search elsewhere or attempt to create one's own. Creating one's own is somewhat equivalent to creating one's own brain surgery procedure without the benefit of medical school.
Not consciously choosing is a bet that things won't change and that the individual thinks they are informed and bullet proof.

The choice of conceptual resource source and type is no minor matter and deserves investigation, testing and reflection. For example, in the area of industry evolution Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy is silent on the financial dynamics explored in Millian Lee's Strategic Leverage. Both of the previously mentioned resources have a rock logic foundation and seem to largely assume a known set of competitors and a static outside environment. Both are of the narrowly focused type. The table of contents typically sheds some light on the type.

Peter Drucker is the primary resource that went into the thinking that underlies this site.

As an example of the way the sequence of conceptual resource exploration can enrich our mental terrain and alter our future directed action alternatives briefly review the following pages and note the "layers" and time dimensions:

1. The Essential Drucker
2. Tables of contents
3. Managing knowledge means managing oneself
4. The Next Society
5. The Daily Drucker

Conceptual resources can be a tool to help us "look out the window" and systematic attention shifting

Testing against current efforts:

First consider what's at stake.

How can we explain the organization crisis stories in the news? Why would anyone be immune?

Can the changing social and economic picture be explained by linear efforts or by doing more of the existing better?

Compare your master action list and work plans to what's available on this site. This requires exploration rather than guessing or assuming. This comparison is a form of insurance. Is your work approach adequate to the challenges ahead?

How to do it?

The how to do it is covered in each area, but a simple summary would be to create an interest profile by exploring the site and then sequence the work (of spending time in each area of interest) in a way that it helps define and implement your informed developmental desires. The previous sentence equals several months of work. This process is also an action diagnosis. See life long action system (above) and time-life navigation site work approach.

Repeatedly come back and do it again later.

Redesign the site. Make notes. Get involved. Get others involved. Send me suggestions. See how to use.

At some point you might want to ask yourself: "What am I going to do now and what am I going to stop doing?"

The interest profile can be a preliminary master radar screen.

"Effective decisions" are an important part of a strategic work plan and should be explored. The idea of making few, yet effective decisions dramatically changes the composition of our time. The vigorous pursuit of time-life navigation would be an effective decision for many people. See: The Effective Executive; The Essential Drucker; Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices; Managing the nonprofit organization -- Principles and practices; Peter Drucker on the profession of management; OR navigate to Tables of content > toc.pdf > toc2.pdf and use Acrobat's Find command to locate chapters on effective decision.

A final HOW thought: In areas where the conceptual terrain is challenging, speed is your enemy—take little bites and chew them well.

Page summary mind map

Click for details

Time-life navigation site work approach is the next page on the designed exploration path.