Tweet

TIME, TIME, TIME ….IS NOT ON MY SIDE!

Guest post by: Danny Creed

Article Overview: Many say the WORLDS GREATEST ROCK N’ ROLL BAND is the Rolling Stones! Mick Jagger and the boys once had a big hit whose lyrics went, “Time, Time, Time, is on my side, Yes it is….” With all due respect to the wisdom of Rock N’ Roll, I believe that the Stones were dead wrong! If they were right then why do so many of my business coaching customers say that they never have enough time to get everything done that they need done. Why do they say that life would be so much better if they just had 25 hours in a day?

TIME, TIME, TIME ….IS NOT ON MY SIDE!

Many say the WORLDS GREATEST ROCK N’ ROLL BAND is the Rolling Stones! Mick Jagger and the boys once had a big hit whose lyrics went, “Time, Time, Time, is on my side, Yes it is….”

With all due respect to the wisdom of Rock N’ Roll, I believe that the Stones were dead wrong! If they were right then why do so many of my business coaching customers say that they never have enough time to get everything done that they need done. Why do they say that life would be so much better if they just had 25 hours in a day?

The fact is, once time passes, IT IS GONE, over and non-recoverable. It’s highly and completely perishable. And yet, so much time is wasted by business people on a day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute basis.

I see businesses FAIL or THRIVE simply due to the owners’ ability or lack of ability and skill, or lack of, at managing the time that they do have and the ability and skill to prioritize the tasks that are required of them.

Some can. Most can’t!

Management and prioritization of time is a skill (a learned skill) and a necessary one, yet I doubt it’s within the curriculum of most top business schools. But that’s another conversation. I believe that it’s a powerful issue. And, if learned as a skill that I believe is as essential to business survival and success as oxygen is to breathing, then the business person who learns this skill and practices it daily both in their business and personally can dramatically alter their future.

One of my customers is a young entrepreneur we’ll call Jack. He works hard in a franchise that he purchased two years ago. He has business training, he has a great product, he has a big investment, and he has a family. Jacks’ issue is that he tries to do everything and there is simply not enough time to do everything.

So we quickly embarked on a time management and task prioritization “system” of managing the available time that Jack had by learning a task prioritization process. The first rule of this process is: “Never let the most important thing be sacrificed by doing the least important thing!”

In just three weeks of total focus on this system, Jack reported an improvement on time and energy savings of nearly six and a half (6 ½) hours PER DAY or 32 ½ hours a week or 1560 hours per year. Together we found Jack nearly a full month per year to now use and more importantly we found Jack an improved life. Looking back, we realized that he did not understand the difference between ACTIVITY and PRODUCTIVITY. In other words he had been going through his day being very active and busy but accomplishing nothing. Now he does the things that are the most important first. He practices, multiple times per day mind you, the ultimate time management question; "Is what I am doing now the number 1 thing I could possibly be doing right now to move my goals and my business forward?" And simply enough, if it's not....stop what you're doing and get back on task. Now he has a new outlook on business and life and both are improving quite dramatically.

Lost time can never be reclaimed so get control and start doing what’s important and enjoy the time that you do have.

Related Articles
  We’re Both On the Same Side
  The Philosophy of Responsibilities in Workplace Relationship Building
  Start your consulting business as a side hustle
  Business Communication With PowerPoint Slides
  A Special Marketing Tool: Online Pay-Per-Click or PPC Ads
  How To Use The Poll Component and Poll Module Within Your Joomla Content Management System
  Rent Billboard Ad Space on a Left-Hand Read
  Need to be more creative? Give yourself a “Whack on The Side of the Head”
  Mad Marketing TV is the World's First "TV on the Internet" Show
  Solving conflicts by changing the game
  Canvas pictures and artwork
  Which Side Of The Road Am I Supposed To Be On?
  Double-Entry Accounting: A Place to Start
  The most important rule
  Cause and Effect
  The Placebo Effect
  Five Steps to Creating a Simple Blog in Less than 30 Minutes
  Use PPC & SEO For Successful Internet Marketing
  Critical Illness Insurance for your child
  Management Tactics - No Winners With Win/Lose Or Lose/Win

Article Tags: business coaching, goals, success, task prioritization, time management



Related Forum Posts
Re: Is facebook adverts effective? - We have done it for our online live tutoring services. But, I have decided not to use it again because we could know that there were around 250 clicks in a week ,but we could not see capitalise a single student. We targeted UK based 24-30 or something. We actually received a very few (I think around5 out of 250 clicks!) ... They too seem to be Indians and Pakistanis residing in the UK with a full time student visa, which prevents them from taking online lessons from us (then why they clicked our ads and even contacted us mean, I think, they do not going to lose anything!) ... So, I realised that our target market UK based PART TIME ACCA and CIMA students do not use FaceBook to browse ACCA and CIMA related sites although they use FaceBook. So, as our website is for ACCA and CIMA courses, probably it might have been shown in ACCA and CIMA FaceBook groups, where FULL TIME students were browsing it. So, I think it is we, selected the wrong medium .... Not to blame FaceBook I think .... So, it mainly depends on your target market, where they reside and actually from that area/country, truly would your target group see your adverts ? Much to consider ....
Re: How much is social media part of your marketing strategy? - The magic word: TIME If i had more time... but since I don' have it i go strictly to other marketing methods, that brings in more targeted traffic, like article marketing.
Re: Training and Self Development - Lets dust this one off Offline, budget and TIME, I feel are the reasons Training and Development take a second seat to building your business. Few start ups business have employees and the 1 or 2 partners are busy getting their business off the ground so the loss of 1 to training is a loss of a working partner Start ups are seldom well capitalized until they reach a certain growth and can offer proof of their business model to Angel or Venture Capital Funding - then they have to perform to meet the requirements of the funder. Angel are more ideal because they understand the important of personal development and often may be the source of your further development and training Offline Chamber of Commerce and related organizations offer training, but normally during your business hours and a often at a cost prohibitive for a start-up - I started a dozen companies and never had time or budget for such offerings - SO WHAT IS WRONG THE LIBRARY? Obviously that comment and I were before the INTERNET. So now we have both the LIBRARY and the INTERNET to source our training - FREE I start every Business Plan and Marketing workshop with a personal NEEDS ANALYSIS. We are looking for entrepreneur suitability, skill sets, etc, While Passion, Confidence, Attitude and Commitment are more difficult to change in a workshop - Awareness can be heightened, Take aways include a personal development plan. Yes would be Entrepreneurs can be trained to be entrepreneurs, but the person has to be open to assessment and honest in identifying their shortfalls. Better still Entrepreneurship is not an end itself as the business grows - either train yourself or turn the company over to corporate guru. How many companies ultimately fail because the entrepreneur would not turn lose of the reigns Be honest with your needs, take time for your needs development! INTERNET INTERNET, where you when I went to college? YOU can do learn and do anything and with the INTERNET and FORUMS such as this are ideal for LEARNING your TRADE Budget, what budget, EXPERTS here share and help you for FREE, all your need it TIME
Single mother business - Hi Evan, Every problem can be solved. Check these four 'T' points: 1. THINK that you are important. Therefore one can do anything one sets her mind to. This can be applied to many different types of businesses. Perhaps she has set her mind on a specific market. With the help of the internet one can explore avenues of possible area to fill the need. 2. TRUST yourself that you are able. It doesn't matter, if you make a mistake. You know your strength and weaknesses. Concentrate on strength, this is your potential. 3. TEAM-UP with somebody. Perhaps a friend, who has some experience in this. You can get good advice and encouragement. There are Nay-sayers out there, just ignore them. Look for positive and achievers These can be a great strength. Finally, 4. TIME for your children. When you have a routine set up, you can plan ahead to be with them. As they get older, they will understand the reason for you to work. Kindest Regards Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!"
Re: Email Marketing, Permission Based - I agree that a double-opt-in (i.e. confirmed opt-in) system of email marketing is the best method. Of course, having people confirm their subscription is no guarantee that they will read your email! Signing up subscribers is only the FIRST stage. The next thing you need to get is their TRUST, and the best way to "get" is not to "sell" but to "give"... - give freebies - give useful, valuable tips - get the subscribers to feel that opening your mail is something WORTH SPENDING TIME ON. Entertain them, make them laugh, but always give them something of value connected to the niche market that your newsletter deals with. - invite feedback - use the [[firstname]] tag, and don't be afraid to use it in the newsletter title field either! Cheers, David H


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Why We MUST Reinvent The Wheel

Life, Conflict and Work

Adjusting Your World

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.