Gerry Knackman Author

Poor Wallace Wattles. Who is Wallace Wattles? He was the author of a little book written in 1910 called the Science of Getting Rich. This is the book Rhonda Byrne stumbled upon and used as the inspiration for the Secret. The only problem is she did not focus on the most important part - action. Chapter 12 on the Science of Getting Rich is entitled Efficient Action. This is a major key to achievement. I encourage you to Google the author and find the book on the Internet. It is in the public domain and is available for free. Yes the "Secret" is free. The author of the Secret probably ignored the most important part of Wattle’s great work, because the masses are not interested in action and can’t be sold it. With the action part removed, the Secret became a great marketing idea to get people believing that they could have it all with no effort and it sold like crazy. Another problem with the LOA is that it is distraction from reality. In other words, people believe they are on ...

We are all familiar with Stephen Covey’s famous time management quadrants. I have a new twist on this concept based upon the importance of tasks to the parties involved in them. Whether we realize it or not, every task we do has an impact on both us and other parties. Obvious examples like paying someone we owe money too impacts both parties. However, even a task like learning a new language impacts others. Why, because if you commit to learn French, you are taking time away from family members who may miss your company and find the relationship devalued as you spend less time with them. The matrix below defines tasks simply based upon the importance of the task to the parties involved.                                            Important to Me           ...

There was a discussion on the GTD forum about making money and the idea of passive income. Several people said you need to be doing something you are passionate about in order to make money. I chimed in my thoughts I just don't think there are formulas. I know hard working poor and lazy rich. I know people who hate what they do and make great money and I know people who love what they do and don't. I actually think it is more about satisfying the "market" and not yourself. You can satisfy the market through innovation, great value or great service. There are probably many people getting rich making Ipods and IPads as an example and some love it and some hate it. They are getting rich because the market likes the products, not because of their passion or lack thereof. To the extent you "love" what you do to satisfy the market great. In order to make a huge passive income you have to still create something that can "live on" for a long time be it cap...

This is a topic not many people discuss. The truth of the matter is that any time management system including the ones I have developed cost time to implement. Like any other investment and make no mistake about it time is invested just like any other commodity, time must be evaluated in terms of the return on investment. So, if a particular time management system takes five hours a week to implement and maintain, if it does not save you more and in my opinion much more than five hours a week why would you do it. If you are making lists, updating lists, re-typing lists and priorities into a software program, this is in actuality time you could be using to do the true things you need to get done. So making a list of the things you need at the grocery store saves you the time of other trips when you realize you forgot something. This simple example should be used to look at all of your time management activities. Your system takes a certain amount of time. So take a good look at how much...

Productivity and time management do not need to be complicated. In fact like most things in life, a few simple changes can lead to dramatic results. I have found that life really follows the 80/20 principle. 80 percent of your improvement can come from 20 percent of the possible changes. After observing many people over the years in mostly office settings, I am convinced that one of the big impediments to productivity is pretty easy to cure. The big hurdle and impediment to successful time management is that people simply do not use one thing to write on. I see it all the time. People capture a phone message on a post it note. Then they take notes on a small pad of paper. Then later in the day they are in a meeting using a different notebook. Then walking past their cube later in the day, they are scribbling something on an email they printed out. At another time of day they are writing some reminders in outlook in the task section. As a manger of people it actually reduces my confiden...

For those of you that like a simple system, but based on your paper calendar, the below is one I designed for that. This time management system is based on the theory that a day for most of us is the appropriate amount of time to both plan and monitor. Furthermore, if we can improve our daily productivity, in general our lives will improve and we will be more on top of our work at our jobs freeing time to enjoy life and seek out those fulfillment opportunities we all desire to add to our lives. If you have had the frustration of remembering at night things you had hoped to accomplish during the day or had the day slip away and realized so much of what you set out to accomplish was left undone, this method will help you become much more efficient and effective and get on top of your work and life. While this system is primarily a time management system, it allows us to simultaneously work on our goals and integrates them into our daily routine so they get done. This increases our fulfil...

Years ago, I found an article about Jane Wesman, a PR Exec.  The article detailed how she managed her time using a simple old school steno notebook.  These notebooks were used wayback for secretaries to use steno, a form of shorthand to listen to their bosses and record the conversations to presumably type up letters and carry out their instructions.  While the art of Stenography is long gone, you can still grab these notebooks at bib box stores.  Unfortunately, the article in inc. is behind a paywall, but my system, which I wrote up as an Ehow article is below.  Instructions Things You'll Need: A Steno Notebook Step  1 Go to an office supply store or drug store and purchase some Steno Notebooks. These are 6 inches by 9 inches with a spiral binding at the top. They usually have 80 pages and typically each page will have a thin line down the middle. They were popular years ago when secretaries used them to take dictation using shorthand. They are still made...

If you are using a simple time management system using a legal pad, like the one for free on this ite, and need to know how to transition to a new legal pad, this old post shows you how. People have asked questions about the exact method to make the transition to a new legal pad. This happens when all of the blank pages are used up. This happened to me today. A standard legal pad has 50 pages. When mine finally was used up or totally written on there were 14 pages left affixed to the pad. I decided to perform the review and after reviewing the pages, 3 were filed and 11 were tossed. The new legal pad ended up with one page of call, action items and waiting for items. The result is a clean break with the old legal pad and a manageable list to begin working from. After doing the review, I feel refreshed, organized and ready to move forward. I still have project files, but the critical tasks are now in front of me on the legal pad and ready to be tackled. The simplicity of the method is w...

While the author of the Secret says the Science of Getting Rich was the inspiration for the Secret, they seem to think the SOGR is about the Law of Attraction. I believe the SOGR is about positive thinking, personal responsibility and action. The supposed Law of Attraction is a passive method whereas the SOGR is an active make it happen method. Here are some interesting numbers to back this up. Number of times the SOGR uses the word attraction = 0 Number of times the SOGR uses the word action = 53 Maybe the point of the SOGR was missed in the Secret. I took the action part to heart when I read the book and my ebook teaches you the action method I used after reading the SOGR to make many things happen in my life. Check it out and embrace action.

One of the goals many people have is the desire to attain wealth. The Law of Attraction phenomenon has fueled this even more in people. The idea that you can attract and manifest wealth is central to many LOA teachers programs, which include titles like Attract Money Now by Joe Vitale and Money, and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Wealth, Health and Happiness by Esther Hicks. The problem is as we have discussed before the Law of Attraction is not a scientific law, but a marketing idea used to sell books. The reality is you do not attract what you think about, you may obtain what you work towards. Not as sexy due to the words may implying not everyone succeeds, which is obvious from life and seeing entrepreneurs trying and failing to achieve wealth and that problematic word for LOA people - work. True believers in the LOA dance around the issue of action. In fact many even say it is not required. Well, this is non-sense, action is required to obtain results unless you wish to...

We strive for and in fact crave simplicity here. If something is too complex, we quickly loose interest in it. Over the years when it comes to time management things have gotten more complex. David Allen’s Getting Things Done also known as GTD was complicated enough even before the Iphone, Droid, Ipad and other gadgets came out designed to “help” you get things done using GTD. Even those who seem to embrace simplicity like Mark Forster have designed some seemingly simple systems like his new Superfocus which appear to be fairly complex. After the launch of Superfocus, there have been dozens of threads and hundreds of posts on his forum asking for clarity on the rules of the new system, which is paper based by the way. So, possibly it is not as simple as it was designed to be if it requires all of this debate. Now, I am not knocking these two fine gentlemen who have done much to advance the productivity of the world and certainly have profited deservedly so for their efforts. My point i...

Through the Wayback Machine, I was able to unearth some of my old articles.  I always thought the Secret and LOA crowd got Wallace Wattles teaching wrong and wrote an old article about it.  With the proliferation of social media and LOA coaching, it is even more relevant today.  The article is updated for the latest edition of the book and is below. One of the best books on acquiring wealth and the mindset needed to acquire wealth is the timeless Classic the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. The Science of Getting Rich book has had a tremendous impact on me and millions of others on their spiritual and financial journeys. One of the people who say it influenced them is of course Rhonda Byrne the author of the massive best selling book and DVD the Secret. In fact in the Secret and on a video on Youtube, she discusses the Science of Getting Rich as the book that changed her life. The Secret as it is “revealed” in the book is the Law of Attraction. Which is defined...

At one point I was planning to write an investment book I was going to call the One Fund Solution - How to Manage Your Money Without Going Crazy. The idea was to come up with the simplest way to manage your money so you can spend your time earning more or doing what you want. It has been well documented that trying to beat the market and day trading are in fact losers games and it is extremely unlikely that a retail investor will beat the market.   Trying to do so will also waste a lot of time which could be spent elsewhere.   At the end of the day, there is really not a books worth of material there, more like an article, which is presented here. Institutional and retail investors across the globe have been following Warren Buffet’s moves for decades trying to understand not only what stocks he is buying, but why he is buying them.   For most investors no matter how much Buffet is studied, his results will never be duplicated.   However, in 2014 buried in his annual...

While the explosion of new technologies and applications (Apps) has led to many amazing improvements in our lives, there is one phenomenon which to me at least is disturbing.   This phenomenon which while always present in society has exploded with the increases in technology.   Specifically, the number of self proclaimed experts has exploded along with these new platforms.   While the new term thrown around is influencer, to actual influence, the public has to see you as having competence to actually be influenced by them and their message. It is now impossible to spend anytime on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter/X or even the internet in general without being subject to SPEs.   They are there to tell you; how to eat, what to wear, how to exercise, deal with relationships, how to think and vote and basically how to live.   It was not always this way.   While I may be dating myself, there was a time when if you wanted to be published, act, make...

I found one of my early time management systems buried in my computer.  Turns out it works quite well.  It uses a spiral notebook.  I have posted it below.  Enjoy and if you want an alternative, try the one at the link on the left, enjoy. The Simple Guide to Time Management Productivity in a Spiral Notebook Using the R A W Method Copyright 2008 Introduction Welcome to the Simple Guide to Time Management. We hope this guide helps you efficiently and effectively handle the things you need to in your life. Time Management Time management is a subject that has been written about and taught over the years by countless authors, gurus and consultants. With today’s fast paced, information overfilled world there are many frazzled and thinly stretched people looking to “manage” their time. The reality of the situation is that time management is a misnomer. Time can not be managed. Time progresses at the same rate for all of us. Everyone’s minute has 60 seconds,...