“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not the only the scenery you miss by going to fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” -Eddie Cantor

Slowing Down to the Speed of Thought
I recently had a short session with a client where he said “My fundamental weakness is I’m not the type of person to make split second decisions.  I need processing time to figure out how I’ll respond to things and what’s happening as a result is I’m getting killed by those wanting an answer and now!”

I turned to him and asked “Why in the world do you look at that aspect of your personality as a weakness?  In this context, what you’re doing is helping the other slow down to the speed of conscious thought, therefore making informed decisions rather than jumping into the deep end without a life preserver”.  He had never thought of it that way.

So, when you hear the term “buying time”, what is the first thing you think of?  Is it more time to do things, see things, to play and shelve work for the time being?  Is it “I wish I could clone myself so I could do more” and “I wish I had more time to…”? Truthfully it had nothing whatsoever to do with having more time, saving time or finding time (did you lose it somewhere?) so something else could be slotted into that chunk of time. It’s having extra time….unplanned time, space….nothingness, quiet time, time to just be, to let the thoughts fly in any direction, to think, imagine and explore possibility.When do you have creative time, time to conceptualize, to strategize, to play, learn, and get to know others? Or time to just unwind and relax?

“Productivity is the deliberate strategic investment of your time, intelligence, energy, resources and opportunities in a manner calculated to move you measurably closer to meaningful goals.”  - Dan Kennedy

How do you know you’re successful?
 

Success isn’t a mystery….it’s a reflection of what you are doing with your time.  Highly successful people are massive action takers.  They don’t just try one solution to a problem, they implement 20 and they use action lists to track them. High achievers continuously plan, rethink, hone and tweak in real time.  It’s a way of life for them and they do it so smoothly as to never disrupt the flow and momentum.  They make choices. The difference between average people and those who are very effective isn’t only that they manage their time better; it’s that they work with others better. 

What’s troubling is I’m working in organizations where the managers don’t know what work they’re supposed to be doing.  Leadership is throwing lists of conflicting priorities at their managers with no clear direction.  Staff is running around like chickens without heads trying to figure out the reasons behind why they’re doing some of the work in the first place.  Does that sound like you? 

What can you do about it?
 

Know your work!  Sounds simple hmm?  It isn’t always but if you don’t know what you should be doing, then you’re not going to be doing the right things.  So know you’re work.  This is one of the key points of my Time Mastery Program.  Know the work you absolutely MUST do and know the work you absolutely must NOT do.  It is so easy to get sidetracked.  How many times have you found yourself doing something where you turn around and ask yourself “Why in the world am I doing this?”  If that ever happens to you then know your work and everything outside of that is answered with a “No”.  A polite “No” but “No” all the same.  Tiny word.  Powerful word.

Boundaries
 

Another powerful word.  It means figuring out what is acceptable and what isn’t.  What boggles my mind is when staff tell me they can’t say no and can’t understand why management keeps heaping it on.  Well as long as you keep taking what’s being thrown at you without setting those boundaries, you’re going to be responsible to deliver.  If you can’t say “Sure I’ll take this on as long as you tell me what I can drop”, then you have to figure out what work you must do in the time available to you.

“Do you love life?  Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff that life is made of” – Benjamin Franklin.

Last But Not Least:
 

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http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

Remember, time can’t be saved, found, put in a bucket for later, compacted, stopped, added to or managed.  Time is time and as quickly as it comes it goes.  Choose what you do with it wisely.