Making Time

Most people know that “marking time” in the military is marching in one place, not moving. Do you sometimes feel as if you are ‘marking time,’ and not making the progress that you thought you’d be making by now?

When I was a young boy, I struggled just thinking about time. I used to think that if I ran instead of walked from point A to point B, the time I had gained would aid me one day. I thought I was making time which, of course, is impossible. What I learned as I grew older, however, is that if I wanted to change my utilization of time, I needed to change my thinking about time itself.

For example, here are some common misconceptions about time:
• If you speed up, keep busy and active, you will get more done (“ready, fire, aim”).
• If you want things done right, do them yourself. If you do something well, you should do it. Similarly, if a decision is to be made, I should make it.
• If you wait until the last minute of a deadline, you will be more productive.
• If you leave on time occasionally, you are not committed to the company’s success.
• If you say “no” to someone’s request, they may think poorly of you.
• If you spend time planning, it is likely a waste of time since tomorrow, things will likely change.
• If you work longer, you can spend more money.
Of course, all of these are false which brings us to our attitudes about time.

Attitudes About Time
People are constantly saying, “I never seem to have enough time.” Think about this—we have all the time there is, correct? How can having ALL THERE IS not be enough? If you believe in God which has a grand design upon the world, why would He build a world with not enough time? The next time you have too much to read, too many commitments to honor, too much to do, remember who invited all this into your life: You. We make our decisions and choices, then those choices make us.
• Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom lies in eliminating the non-essentials.
• Habits are the key to success in time management. Successful people form the habit of doing the things that others don’t like to do.
• When you choose a habit, you also choose the result of that habit. Otherwise, we live the definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over, and expecting different results! That’s nuts.
• Self-discipline is simply doing what you know you should do, regardless of whether or not you feel like doing it.
• You have all the time in the world to do whatever is important to you. So what is important to you?
Sybil Stanton in the 25-Hour Woman cites the “work and spend cycle” which speaks about the tremendous debt that most people are burdened by, and their resulting thinking that they must work harder and longer to substantiate the debt burden. The cycle is self-perpetuating and onerous. Being debt-free does wonderful things to your attitudes about work and time.

Organization: The First Pre-requisite of effective Time Management
I once walked into the office of an owner and President of his company. I was amazed at what I saw: stacks of paper and files everywhere on his desk. You couldn’t even see three square inches of his desktop. Upon the floor and the credenza behind him: same, sad situation. Although he assured me that he could find anything he was looking for, the volumes of papers and files “organized” on his desk gave both the impression that he was extremely disorganized and confirmed his rationalization that he needed help and coaching.
The good news is that in a matter of weeks and months, he overcame his bad organizational habits and began unconsciously practicing the fundamentals after three months time. Fundamentals like:
 Clear your desk except for the one thing that you’re working on at the time
 Touch each piece of paper once
 Have a place for everything and Everything in its place
 Learn to delegate, deputize and “let go intelligently”
 Hire a personal assistant who excels in what you do not excel in
 Groom your organizational systems occasionally
The degree to which you’re organized directly impacts the degree of time and priority management excellence. The two are tightly intertwined with one another. Get professional coaching assistance if needed, but deal with your disorganization at once.

A Test for Priorities
Here is a wonderful test for priorities. Assume for a moment that your doctor has just given the news that you have just six more months to live. To what would you give importance? Where would you invest your time with six months to live? Having asked this question to many groups of people over a number of years, I always get the same five answers:
1) I would spend more quality time with my family.
2) I would see / do the things I always wanted to see and do.
3) I would get my affairs in order.
4) I would increase my faith.
5) I would reconcile any differences and say, “I forgive you.”
The point is that we all have six months to live, and hopefully much longer. Yet how many of the things that we would do with just six months to live can we start working on .. today? Yes, all of them. The key to will-power is want-power. If you want something bad enough, you will find the discipline to achieve it. Time is not something to save, but rather something to invest wisely.
If you have too many priorities, then by definition, they all can’t be priorities. A question that I frequently ask in time management seminars is, “What are the criteria you utilize to determine your priorities?” While most people do not even have an answer to this question, here are some of the most common:
• the associated deadline of the task
• the 80/20 Rule – 80% of the value comes from 20% of the items. Does it add value?
• the organization’s goals (for example, revenue generating)
• my career goals

The Bottom Line
A pilot radioed the following message from the cockpit to his passengers: “The bad news is that we are lost . . the good news is that we are going 600 miles per hour.” Being fast and hurried is vastly different from being effective.
According to Alec McKenzie, one of the foremost authors on time and priority management, 95% of people do not regularly set goals. Think about the relationship between having goals to time and priority management. How could one determine priorities without goals? Most people are like the feather being blown around by the breath of any wind, drifting aimlessly. They are marking time – marching in place without getting anywhere, or at the least, where they really want to go or to achieve.