“HOW TO
CONTRIVE NOT TO WASTE ONE’S TIME?”
APPLY THE LAW OF SLIGHT EDGE
The philosopher Albert Camus (1913-1960) posited the question that’s in today’s headline.
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| The Law of Slight Edge: Small changes, over time, make a big difference. Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensis, Plate XI. Maria Sybilla Merian's image of the stages of an Emperor Moth |
His answer: “By being fully aware of it all the
while.”
Hmmm … In the spirit of TGIM #342’s suggested breakdown of the time of our lives
into three “buckets” – Money Time, Family Time, Personal Time – let’s continue
the discussion with a bit of Time Analysis and see what kind of useful insight
that reveals.
A Dozen
Money-Time Questions
That Won’t
Take Too Much Time To Answer
TGIM ACTION IDEA: Please don’t make this a big
deal. It’s just a little
mental review and analysis.
The intention is to
find just where your Money Time goes, since that is what you are probably most
concerned about when it comes to time waste and time management.
Watch this: The “base” for calculating your percentages
should be a normal workweek (if there is such a thing in your life) plus one
that you felt was out of control.
It might be useful
to check your day planner to refresh your memory about what was supposed to
happen when. But – again -- please don’t
add to your time challenges by spending hours fooling with this exercise. Just give it a fair thinking as you read it
through.
A friend to lend a guiding hand: I’ll also give you some benchmarks to which
you can compare your findings. Since
this is an imprecise survey, they are not carved in stone by any means. But the comparisons of your reality to a
standard may hint at where you might be going astray.
Q #1. What percentage of your time did you spend planning and setting
priorities?
Benchmark: If you aren’t spending at least an hour a week in planning your time
and organizing your priorities, you’re probably not going to end up using your
time as effectively as you should.
Q #2. What percentage of your time
did you spend on a high priority work – work that helps you accomplish your
Money Time job successfully and is important to the organization?
Benchmark: If your figure is below 65-70%, you aren’t doing justice to your job
or to your career, for that matter.
Q #3. What percentage of days did you have “high” and “medium”
interruptions?
Benchmark: Any day with high- or medium- interruptions was a day when you were
sidetracked from your work too many times.
Of course, interruptions are bound to happen. If more than 2 or 3 of your days in the
two-week stretch had high- or medium- interruptions, that’s too many.
Q #4. What percentage of your time did you spend in meetings?
Benchmark: If you spent more than 25% of your time in meetings, you’re probably
unhappy. If you spend 50% or more, you
have our sympathy.
Q #5. What percentage of your time did you spend traveling?
Benchmark: We’re going to cheat a little here.
If travel means the morning and evening commute, or if it means the
flight across the country, or if it means the miles on the road making sales
calls, the travel measure is relative.
So we’ll simply ask, “What do you think of that percentage?”
Q #6. What percentage of your time did you spend waiting?
Benchmark: Time spent waiting for information… waiting to see people… waiting to
get in to deliver your presentation… waiting for transportation to
arrive…. If you didn’t have something
worthwhile to do while you waited, any percentage is too high.
Q #7. Tell the truth now, estimate the percentage of your time spent goofing
off. By that we mean, throwing the bull
with coworkers… extending the lunch hour… flirting… social media not used for
business purposes … winning a round of computer solitaire or Words With Friends.
Benchmark: We don’t know what’s right for you but we can say with certainty that
90% is too high. Some “mindless”
activity might be a worthwhile investment of your time, if you plan it. Give yourself a goof-off break and you just
might build up some speed in the “easy” stretch and get back to “serious” work
with renewed vigor and enthusiasm that helps you accomplish more, more
quickly. How do you feel about
the amount of time you spent goofing off?
Q #8. What percentage of your time did you spend on work you shouldn’t be
doing; low-priority work, or work that could be done at least as well by
someone else?
Benchmark: Anything more than 0% is too much and is taking away from the time you
could invest elsewhere.
Q #9. How often do you agree to do something and then think, “How did I get stuck
with this? It’s not really mine to do.”
Estimate the percentage of time it took to work on these things.
Benchmark: Once or twice may be the OK reality of
getting by in the workplace. But if you
find more than 10% of your time is being taken up by people giving you their
work to do, you’re being had.
Q #10. What percentage of your time do you spend looking for things you
couldn’t easily find?
Benchmark: Any time spent searching for the tools you need to get the job done is
too much. This is time that seldom does
anyone any good.
Q #11. What percentage of your time did you spend doing “paperwork?”
Benchmark: Some paperwork is required of virtually any
worthwhile task. (Someone has to fill
out the order form that completes the sale that eventually creates the profit.)
Think of it as recording success. However,
if you sneeringly view a task as “paperwork,” then the time spent is too much.
Q #12. What percentage of your time did you spend redoing things that you
should/could have done right the first time?
Benchmark: Again, any percentage is too high.
So how did you make out? Are
you beginning to see where the problems are?
There are many,
many specific strategies that can be implemented to successfully rebalance the
important Times of your life.
But there’s also
one big Universal Law of Living that works like gangbusters in many aspects of
your life and that works best when it’s applied to time management.
So are you ready? OK,
here it is:
The Law of Slight Edge
Small changes,
Over time,
Make a big difference.
Sounds too simple to be profound?
We’ll, it may be simple. But think about it the next time you feel you
don’t have “enough time” in one of your compartments. And consider what little time-nibbling habit
you might have avoided or changed that it would have given you the “extra”
time.
- Small changes, over time, can make a BIG difference.
- And small changes, over time, can ADD TIME where you want it, BIG time.
Fully aware of the
time you put into reviewing TGIM
– and thankful for your interest, big time.
Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
201-569-5373
P.S. “For
those who love …” Tomorrow
is Valentine’s Day (as if you need to be reminded by me.) Here’s a “timely” thought
for the occasion: “Time is too slow for
those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” Author/educator
Henry van Dyke (1852 – 1933) shared that.
P. P.S. And
speaking of time well spent --
- Does the thought of speaking in public, or simply having to present
to a small group of your peers, make you nervous?
- Are you overwhelmed trying to figure out what to say and anxious
about how to say it?
- Are you a professional who wants to gain more confidence, build your business and your personal brand by capturing your audience's attention and moving them to inspired action?
Then here's Great
News! My friend Eric Taylor is facilitating a dynamic public-speaking seminar that's
100% about giving you the skills, tools, tactics, and insider insights
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Thursday, March
15, 2012
at The Sheraton Hotel & Conference
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Eatontown, NJ
Click this link -- www.EricTaylorSpeaker.com
-- to get all of the details and register for this event at your exclusive, TGIM, friend-of-the-family, Pre- Early-Bird 50%-Discount rate (and
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I look forward to
seeing you there.
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