Time Management? What’s the Guts of It?
By Robyn Pearce
(723 words)
Do you ever drag your weary body home saying any of the following?:
- There’s just not enough hours in the day
- There’s so much to do – I’ll never get to those long-term projects, even though I know they’ll make a difference
- I can’t delegate – I don’t have time to teach anyone else (or I’ve got no-one to delegate to!)
- If that pile of paper on my desk gets any bigger it’ll become a fire hazard!
- I’m stressed, overworked, tired….
Or:
- Does your family mutter about the long hours?
- It takes you a minute or two to remember when you last had a weekend off?
- The last holiday seems like a distant dream?
I’ve been there, and worse. Once I’d started to conquer my own bad habits, I was the most surprised when people began asking me for help. Over the last 12 or more years that help has evolved into work with many industry sectors.
However, for many years I still made it too complex.
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase ‘the quality of the question determines the quality of the answer’. A great question from a 20 year old country boy a few years ago triggered a 90-second response which has helped countless numbers of people ever since.
I was crossing the beautiful Sydney Harbour in Australia with my son Jim and his mate Richard. This trip was both Jim’s 21st birthday present and a celebration of the successful conclusion of his Diploma of Agriculture at Lincoln College, Christchurch, New Zealand.
We were off to Manly Beach for a day of sun, surf, and (for the boys) admiration of beautiful scantily-clad women! (And if you’ve ever been to the Sydney beaches, you’ll know what I mean!)
Richard was asking about my work. He leaned forward with interest when I began to explain what I taught.
‘Robyn, I constantly struggle with time.’ And then came his great question. He said, ‘What’s the guts of it?’
With such a brilliant question, the answer just popped out. You might not have the same imminent agenda as Richard, but I’m sure you also just want ‘the guts’ of the topic.
I found myself saying, ‘There are only four elements:
- The Big Picture
- Planning & Prioritising, and that expands to four sub-sections:
1. Don’t get bogged down in the urgent at the expense of the important
2. Develop a proactive focus
3. Plan weekly, at the beginning of the week
4. Every day work a simple to-do list, with a focus on the top five priorities
- Tips and Techniques
- Sanity Gaps
‘If you haven’t got all four areas covered, you’ll never get a good handle on your own time choices.
‘The big picture gives you your goals, and where you should spend time. It helps you make the right choices, especially when faced with alternatives.
‘Good planning and prioritising helps you use your time effectively, and if you’ve got it linked to your big picture you’ll find it reasonably easy to work your choices into your schedule.
‘On their own, however, the big picture and planning and prioritising are still not enough. We all know people brilliant at strategy, great at planning, and yet they dawdle through life. You also need efficiency - to know the fast track techniques, the short cuts, the quick ways to save time.
‘Short cuts don’t constitute good time management, no matter how useful they are; it’s too easy to efficiently rush around doing the wrong things. But combine shortcuts with the first two and you’re getting close.
‘However, great strategy, great prioritising, and great techniques still don’t make for great time management. It’s just a recipe for a very full diary. You’ll run around like a headless chook in ever-diminishing circles, until, like the chook, you fall over in an ugly heap.
‘We also need sanity gaps. Here you’ve got time out, “recharge and refresh” time, a chance to smell the roses and live.’
‘Wow’, said Richard. ‘That’s easy!’
I looked at him, and said, in some surprise as I realised how simply I’d chunked it out: ‘Yes, it is!’
You might not be a testosterone-filled young man on a ferry, heading off to sun and gorgeous bodies, but you are busy in your own field and you need to manage your time effectively.
Robyn Pearce CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is the Time Queen. She mastered her own time challenges and now helps people around the world overcome theirs. She can show you how to transform your time challenges into high productivity and the life balance you desire.
Download her free report “How to Master Time In Only 90 Seconds”, a simple yet powerful diagnostic tool to help you identify your key areas for action. You’ll find it at http://www.gettingagrip.com/products/e-books/index.asp And while you’re there, enrol for your free Top Time Tips – practical advice every two weeks
© All Rights Reserved to Robyn Pearce, GettingAGrip.com, PO Box 29 586, Fendalton, Christchurch 8540, New Zealand Ph.+ 64 3 351 2140
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