Thank Goodness It's Monday #342

TIME IS NOT MONEY

BUT …

How do you value your time?

One of the classic tools for “teaching” Time Management has been the process of dividing an annual dollar value (say salary or commission plus benefits, bonus, options, etc.) by some manipulated time factor (say, 60 hour weeks for 50 weeks a year = 3000 hours) to produce a dollars-per-hour outcome that’s attention riveting.

Maybe you’ve done this in the past? The idea is to convince you that every moment is precious.

Congratulations!  I don’t think you’re so naïve that you need to do that exercise. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it’s not particularly worthwhile.

While time is valuable and should be invested wisely, it’s not always a dollar-and-cents (or, allowing the bad pun, sense) issue.

Time is not money – at least not purely money. You can’t save it or store it, lend it or borrow it.  Sure, it has worth.  But time’s worth is not always tangible.

So I try to not use words such as spending, killing or wasting when talking about time.

You, too? Sometimes these verbs do slip into our time conversations and we’re not always completely successful in monitoring how we talk about time.  But the key here is to be aware and understand the way you think about time.

What Time IS: Time is a resource that each of us possesses in equal amounts.  Everything has a price and that price is time. Like money, we may do many things with it.

But only one thing makes sense since, unlike money, you can seldom take steps that gain you more time. You can only take steps that enable you to use the finite amount of time you have in alternative -- hopefully more productive and satisfactory -- ways.

So now it’s time to ask—

How Are You Investing Your Time?

Like your other investments, your time should never be tied up in one place – unless that’s what makes you happiest in which case you don’t need my input (or desperately do, but are hardly going to be convinced by this TGIM).

There are three big opportunities for dispersing your allocated time. They are --

• your Money Time
• your Family Time
• your Private Time

TGIM Takeaway: One of the reasons it’s worthwhile to think of your time divvied up into these three compartments is that it enables you to --

Confront the “robbing Peter to pay Paul” problem. If you’re feeling time pressure, that feeling probably comes from guilt about investing/spending too much time in one compartment to the detriment of time allocated to another compartment.

So now let’s break it down a little. Despite the brush off we gave to the “time is money” concept, a lot of people are focused on enhancing their money situation.  So let's review that first.

● Cash in on your Money Time. Money Time is not just weekdays 9-to-5. It’s the time within that time.

Here’s the deal: When you have a Money Time mentality you realize that more effective management of that time of your life makes your money-making activity more effective.

So, for example:

??? What times of the day are you most effective? No doubt there are morning people and definitely-NOT-morning people. When are you sharper, more alert and focused? What are you doing then?

??? What time (times?) of the day is your per-hour money-earning rate highest? Do you just putter around the office in the AM getting psyched to close that big deal over lunch then ride that high to prospect through the afternoon so you can do the same tomorrow? Then how might you use the morning more effectively?

??? Have you thought about which activities during the day bring you the highest return on time invested? Is working your connections at morning networking meet ups a can’t-miss money generator? Or have your quiet-office after-hours social network postings become your preferred way of starting the relationship ball rolling? How can you do more of the more profitable activity?

TGIM Takeaway: Certain Money Time activities are not completely in your control all of the time, of course.  And you can’t necessarily go full tilt from dawn to dark. But with heightened Money Time awareness, you can make more effective use of it than you do now.

● What do you do with Family Time? Here’s some of the best advice you’ll ever be reminded of:

When you are with your family, be with your family.

Sure, this sounds old fashioned. 

But it works.

If you are married with children or in a significant relationship, when it’s Family Time, and you don’t take a business phone call or jump on some Money Matter text message, it tells the people you care most about – that you truly care most about THEM!

By the way: For Time Management purposes “Family” can be a big, inclusive group of people that you care about in a special way. So, although they may not literally be blood-relation family members, when you have quality time with certain other people --

Be There. It can have a tremendous impact on them – and you.

And speaking of you –

● Let’s talk about managing Private Time. This is one of the most critical time investments. If you feel stress and overtaxed in areas of your life, you really need to assess what you’re doing for you.

It’s not greedy to set aside Private Time; decompressing time; refueling time.

What do you do? One great Private Time tactic is to make appointments with yourself, for yourself. What happens then is for you to decide (after all, it is your Private Time).

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Prioritize Private Time based on what you love to do, what makes you feel great about yourself, and by what you can do on your own to re-energize and re-focus your inner-self, priorities and goals.

Watch this: Understand that Private Time appointments you set are non-negotiable. Hold them in high-priority status. This yours-alone time is as important as Family Time, Money Time or any other time-with-others that you value.

Triple Payoff: Well-invested Private Time maximizes your energy and effectiveness in the time you dedicate to your Family and Money.

I hope you found today’s TGIM useful in all three areas.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S.  “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander Time: For that’s the Stuff Life is made of.” Benjamin Franklin (1706 -1790) advised that in Poor Richard’s Almanack, June 1746.