There are a mass of companies and products directed at improving time management and no doubt they all have their merits.
The thing is though, I’ve spoken with quite a few people in business who continue to struggle with time even though they’ve spent a fair chunk of it learning all about how to get a grip on it. So what’s going on here?
To manage time, we first have to know what we’re really trying to do with it.
Let me explain. Try this unfortunate little analogy:
You’re alone in a building when a fire breaks out. What do you do? Do you:
- Stare out of the window for a while?
- Call a friend and discuss what was for lunch?
- Hop into your email and read junk messages?
- Pop onto the Internet and surf aimlessly?
- Shuffle paper around the desk for a bit?
Of course you don’t. You get the hell out of the building.
You have a very clear vision (being outside), a clear purpose (following that vision, being outside, staying unharmed), clear goals (being outside in the next 30 seconds), and some tangible actions (smashing the window and jumping to the ground).
To stand any real chance of making effective use of time, we need at the core a vision that draws us.
A vision underpins everything. Without it we’re blowing in the wind — some days the wind is in our favour and we’ll make headway; other days we’ll get nowhere.
So what’s your vision and what are the steps and actions necessary to achieve it? Get clear on that and you’ll find the topic of time getting back under your control.
