Frances Oman, longtime OPEN EXCHANGE lister, teaches 'optimal productivity' in an all-day Time Banishment Workshop and free evening seminars each month. Here is a sample of Frances' unique method:

How would your life be if you were never rushed? Or if the thought that "there's just not enough time!" never occurred to you? What if you found yourself deeply satisfied and serene a great deal of your day? Although this experience of timelessness can be a challenge to achieve, when one is fully present in the moment, this kind of joy can become more accessible.

It is in this state of "no time" that one can "work smart, not hard" and produce unprecedented results. It is not the amount of time that produces results; it is an inspired way of being that manifests success!

During "inspired creative thought" you are either working easily without hindering thoughts or you are generating new, creative thoughts. While this thought process is rare, there are concrete ways to make this experience more commonplace. The new physicists and spiritual teachers posit that time doesn't really exist. I offer methods to help you relate to time in the eternal, productive "now!"

The first step is to become aware of your thoughts. Are you "having thoughts" or are they "having you?" If you have ever meditated you have seen that the mind keeps on jumping around even when you want to still the mind. This is the most usual activity of the mind. Just as it is with meditation, do not try to eliminate these thoughts to still the mind. Rather commune with them—be with them without judging or trying to change them. One 'thought barrier' is often our false beliefs about time. Without thinking about it people frequently use phrases such as, "spending time," "saving time," "looking forward to."

You cannot be fully in the present if you are frequently thinking about what's next. A schedule can help you quiet the mind. You avoid much of the distraction of making decisions by scheduling blocks of uninterrupted time for like things. Then you just let go, focus, and be creative, fully present in the moment. If you have planned your week inspired by your life purpose, scheduling exactly when you will do things, you can experience a great freedom. As the poet Keats said, "In bonds there are wings."

Scheduling Ways of Being, Not Doing:

Once you have developed the practice of awareness, your intentions can become inspired, and a vision is born. At this point careful planning and scheduling are powerful modes of producing creative results. Have you had the experience of rebelling against a schedule? If the schedule perfectly reflects your inspired intention, then you can surrender to it. With an inspired schedule it is clear that it is your own creative will that you are fulfilling — and that emerges only in present awareness.

"Being" is what gives us powerful results. If you are being, results you intend happen effortlessly. Things just click. If "doing" were what produced results, then to build a skyscraper we would first go get a shovel to prepare for the foundation. So schedule ways of being: things like "initiating," "participating," "serving," "nurturing." Of course, you also schedule what you will be doing, but only in a context of a way of being....

These are just some of the many techniques you can use to live a productive life while being fully in the present. You will end up fulfilling your intentions if you move from being a Human Doing to being a Human Being. Enlightened Scheduling can help you break the bonds of time.