founder of naked leader
It’s (Not) About Time
Time to Read – Guess… (Glance, Guess, and Time Yourself)
Last week’s NL Week ended with – “Give yourself some extra time and next week we’ll consider how to best use it.”
Well, it’s actually not about time at all
Our Clients will always ask us if we “do time management”
Books are written on the subject, workshops are held and people sometimes wonder what they would do if they had an extra 15 minutes each day
The answers are “relax,” “read a book” or just have “time to myself”
And then we hear that well-worn phrase “There are not enough hours in the day”
Addressing each of the above in order: Most time management books and workshops on the subject don’t work
If you had 15 minutes more each day you would do more of what you already do
And there are 24 hours in every day, for everyone
It’s not about “time” – because time is relative – five minutes with someone you love is far less time than five minutes in the dentist’s chair… time added on at a football match always seems to go quicker when you are losing, than when you are winning… you will have your own examples
So, to achieve what you want to achieve, stop focusing on time and focus instead on activity and results
For every organisation in all economic times, it’s not about time; it’s about what you do, how and when – and the results you get
Time is no longer money – activity that brings results is
David
This is so true – we should be concerned about how we ‘spend our time’ – if we gave it as much attention as how we spend our money the world would be a happier place and our businesses would prosper.
There are elements of this that are true although we still need to FIND the time to be able to focus on it and spend it wisely.
That’s not always easy in a day…as for spending money, most of us who are slaves to our business haven’t got the time to do that either. It would be a luxury.
I know, it begs the question, why earn money if you can’t spend it but we have to pay bills!
Most people have th time but don’t realise it.
They are too busy thinking about the time they have to do a task when actually if they just got on and did it it would be fine.
Isn’t the naked Leader ethos just Do It? Unfortunately not enough people do!
Having the time is one thing, having the energy is another.
When we have to get through a working day then having the time to do other things is difficult.
Making time involves cutting out some of the other you do on a regular basis, so it’s not just a case of getting on with it and focusing.
There’s a lot more to it than that.
I may have a slightly slanted view on this having been a leader of people and now member of a team being led( for want of a better word) . I am finding the busier people appear , the more they are thought of. Less attention to being productive with quality of service and results. More of the task than the result is evident in my workplace currently. We even have a reward system for numbers of tasks in addition to the end product being rewarded . I find it is breeding bad behaviours with the emphasis going away from quality more towards quantity
I once worked in an organisation where it was all about what hours you were in the office, so I agree with Anthony.
As long as people were there early, and late, they were considered to be hard workers.
There was no thought for productivity and what those people were producing in terms of work, while they were there.
that is wrong. You were almost frowned upon for leaving on time and yet during the times I stayed, there were people discussing what they were going to do when they got home and personal stuff. I used to say to one or two, ‘haven’t you got homes to go too?’
Just being in the office for a longer period does not mean you work harder.
Especially in these days of laptops when you don’t need to be in an office.
It really is wrong and does not take into account time management. And what of fag breaks?
So many people in the office I worked in walked down sometimes three floors for a fag, wasting 20 minutes, and getting away with it.
Someone can do in four hours what others take six to do, especially when cigarette breaks are involved.
nothing wrong with breaks in the day as long as they come off your lunch time, or you put the hours in to compensate.
i suspect from your comments that it isn’t the case and you have some justification for complaint if that is the case.
This notion that there aren’t enough hours in the day is ludicrous.
Get up earlier, make time.
Sometimes the world at 5am is a very different place to the one a few hours later. Get lots done. make an effort and see the difference it can make to your day if you start earlier.
I agree, there are always enough hours, it’s what you choose to do with them that counts.
And yes, you do choose what you do.
Activity and results. sounds simple. But then you have to have time to do that and there’s not enough hours in the day to do all the activity needed to obtain the results.
That’s the conundrum.
Activity. that’s the key phrase here. Don’t just think about it. Get on and do it and the results will come. That’s the simple part of the context.
To me there really isn’t enough hours in the day.
I have to work, look after to my bed-ridden mother and still coach a hockey team so life is not easy and to take time out just to read for 15 minutes is not achievable.
If I had an extra 15 minutes I wouldn’t do more of the same. I’d sleep.