Making the most of our time
When giving a talk on time management this week, I put up a slide depicting many successful people and asked the question, “What do these people have in common?” They were men and women of varying ages, from all backgrounds and living in different cities. They were all successful to differing degrees. The answer I was looking for was that they, like each of us, have the same 24 hours each day in which to ‘get the job done’. Each of them, in order to achieve the successes they have enjoyed, have found a way of making the most of those 24 hours.
Jim Rohn explains it well: Suppose you had a bank account, into which $1440 was placed every night. You are free to spend that money in any way you choose, but at the stoke of midnight the balance is cleared. Any money you didn’t spend is lost forever, but a brand new $1440 is deposited before you awake next morning.
The money, of course, is a metaphor for the 1440 minutes of time we have each day. However, in real life we can always earn more money, but when time is spent it is gone forever.
Time management is a poor label for essentially being efficient and productive. We cannot manage time any more than we can manage the weather. However, what we can manage is ourselves and the tasks we perform, just as we can choose to wear a coat when it rains!
A major part of my talk dealt with procrastination: what it is, and how to avoid it. I’ve discovered a number of techniques to help avoid procrastination, be more efficient and productive and essentially make the most out of the time we each have. Tomorrow I’ll share those techniques.