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The Time Of Our Life

Guest post by: Dave Mather

Article Overview: Maximizing time utilization is imperative if we are to achieve our stretch goals.

The Time Of Our Life

• Canadian workers dedicate an average of 11 minutes to a project before being distracted and it takes them 25 minutes to get re-focused (if they ever get back to it). • A manager loses 1 hour/day to disorder, costing the business up to $8,125/year if earning $65,000.

How do we recapture our time and our life? Traditional time-management techniques have lost their value. Ideas like expensive time planners, A B and C prioritization, colour-coded files etc., have not proven their worth.

We live in a world where the traditional 9 to 5 workday is ancient history. In our last article, we contended that we have all the time there is - and we do. Once we apply simple time-utilization techniques, we can recover as much as three hours a day of productive time. Then what?

Adjust your relationship to time by investing your time rather than spending it doing stuff. When something is "spent", it's gone forever. Wise investors expect a return. We truly are investing the time of our life. It's important we invest our precious time on things that truly matter to us. As Charles "T" Tremendous Jones says, "It's better to want things we don't have, than to have things we don't want."

We suggest executives ask those who report to them, "What do I do that wastes your time and creates a barrier to executing your responsibilities? Tough question, but, when asked, most employees rate "My Boss" as their biggest time interrupter (waster.) Follow-up with, "What could I do to help you better utilize your time to achieve our desired results?" At first, you may receive tentative responses, but when you act on their answers, suspicion dissipates as you collaborate to maximize results.

One organization arranges an annual "barrier" day in which executives listen to feedback on what they have done throughout the year to impede employee's progress. Tough to hear, but invaluable, since their desired outcome is advancing the organization and gaining a competitive edge. Another company created "Messenger" hats. They wore their hat when they had "bad" news to communicate. Everyone reported they always began the conversation with a laugh. It took no more than two weeks of hat-wearing to entrench the idea that feedback is desired and received openly by managers and executives. "Don't shoot the messenger" became a part of their business strategy.

Do everything you can to keep yourself and others focused on results, not the time expended to produce them. Failure to connect to others at the level of their commitment to desired outcomes can result in a negative, even hostile, environment. To be productive, it's necessary for individuals to know what, specifically, is expected of them; how well they are expected to perform; what resources are available to assist them; and how well they are actually performing. People value specific, helpful feedback and often become cynical when given platitudes or trite feedback.

Executives ask, "Where do I get time for all these conversations?" It may be as simple as becoming more connected to where our time goes. Some executives and managers tend to take an unrealistic and over-optimistic view of time and how long a task requires. They also tend to chase events that pop up much like an untrained dog chasing every rabbit that darts across their path. We're not trained animals, but we do have ingrained habits that no longer serve us well. Actions directed at a specific outcome are far more productive than random acts. There is a big difference between dreaming your life away and actually living a healthy, productive life, yet most people spray their activities much as a WWII ack-ack gunner filled the air with flack hoping enemy planes would fly into it. Today's business climate requires a heat-seeking missile approach of clearly defined outcomes and specific actions designed to advance our organizations towards its desired end result.

Don't confuse activities with results. Traditional "to-do" list often work against us. We could change the face of bull-fighting forever if we could get a message to the bull that the issue is not the moving red object, it's the tall stationary object. Stay focused on results by replacing your "To Do" list with a "To Accomplish" list. At the end of each day, don't whine about what you didn't get done; congratulate yourself and others on what we accomplished and set clear outcomes for tomorrow. There are those who contend that daily activities "interfere" with long-term goals. OOOPS! This is a sign of ineffective management, not poor employee time-management.

We are not in training for tomorrow. Today is our day. We're given 24 shiny new hours than no one can spoil but us. Every day counts. After all, whoever promised us tomorrow? We have no practice time, no time-outs, and no replays. Without being gruesome, why not ask ourselves, "If I were to die today, would I be pleased with the way I invested my time?" I hope your answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

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Article Tags: management, time, time management, time utilization



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