DEFENDING YOUR TIME

DEFENDING YOUR TIME The world is divided into two types of people. Those who manage their time and write books about it, and those who read the books and wish they could do it.

In a perfect world where you have absolute control of your life, time management wouldn’t be too difficult. Provided you could manage yourself (which in itself represents a challenge for some people) you could manage your time.

However, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are imperfections around, like other people, who have their own agendas, schedules and priorities and who are determined to hijack our time to complete their tasks. Now, many years ago professionals cottoned on to the fact that time was a saleable commodity, and began to offer people their undivided attention and abilities for a period of time in exchange for a hefty amount of cash. So they were and are quite willing to let you hijack their time for your own benefit. Check that out next time you phone your lawyer for a word of advice.

But in the run of the mill workplace your colleagues have no intention of handing over a portion of their pay cheque in exchange for you listening to the story of their marital woes over coffee while your work backs up. And your manager who is under pressure from those in the higher echelons of the company to perform is not considering a monetary exchange when she asks you to spend more of the time you haven’t got to work on the project she remembered this morning had to be completed by yesterday. At home, your family is not going to empty their piggy banks to buy the time you had firmly blocked out as, “read next chapter of Dr. Phil.”

Time management is not so much about managing our own time as preventing other people managing it for us. While there is no perfect defense, there are two fortifications you can erect against the relentless assault.

Firstly, you need to have a plan for how you intend using your time. If you have planned your own time then you have a reason for others not to use it. When the boss asks you to “quickly do this”, you will be able to show him what you are currently working on, how that has a higher priority and then also offer another part of your time in which to schedule the work. That is far better than dropping what you are doing to fulfill someone else’s whim, usually brought about because they have failed to manage their time, and then falling behind on important work.

If someone asks you what you are doing right now, and you respond with: “Nothing in particular”, you have effectively dropped the drawbridge and raised the portcullis for the invading army to enter. Unless you really are doing nothing, you need to be able to state clearly what you are doing and why it needs to be done at that time. And you can only do that if you have planned your own time. Never feel the need to apologise for planning your work and your time and sticking to it.

Which brings us to the second fortification –self-confidence. Whenever I have coached someone about time management we discover that at the root of the problem lies a lack of self confidence. To manage time well requires a firm belief in your right to your time. Or, to put it bluntly, in your right to say, “No.” A lack of self-confidence quickly leads to feelings of guilt when we need to be firm with others about our time. A poor self image doesn’t allow us to see ourselves or our time as important, and so we become too willing to allow other “more important” people with “more important” time demands to invade our time.

Plan your time and be confident enough to know that your time is just as important as anyone else’s and you will have two solid fortifications against those who think they have the right to hijack your time.



DEFENDING YOUR TIME - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Payne's Website.

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