Making Time For The Things That Matter
Why is it that there are people who arrive "just too late" to every meeting that you attend, and they often have to leave before the business is completed, so that they can late for the next commitment?
On the other hand there are those who arrive with a little time to spare, use that time to refresh themselves - either physically or intellectually so that there are prepared to contribute fully. When the task is completed, they always have enough time to leave casually, and then arrive at their assignment with time to spare.
I have spent thirty years observing human behaviour - among executives, administrators, technicians, operators, clerks, colleagues, competitors, all manner of people. I started out doing it because I wanted to learn. I continue doing it because I still want to learn, but now I know enough to isolate the characteristics of people who use their time effectively and those who will never have enough time.
I have discovered that it comes down to four basic ingredients: Firstly, they have a clear understanding of what matters to them and to the people who are important to them, secondly they are organised in a way that they are able to cope with predictable and expected situations. They mail their Christmas cards in early December using last years mail out and their business card file as an index. Unlike the disorganised they rarely purchase "Sorry I missed your birthday" cards, because they have a system that keeps the expected and predictable under control.
The third characteristic of the person with time to spare is that they share the load. They understand how to use technology effectively, how to delegate so that the job gets done. They know the value of a network, and use it. Because they apply their skills in these first three areas, they have fewer disruptions, but when disruptions occur they deal with them, rather than being panicked by them.
This book is built around those four principles:
- Work out what matters
- Get Organised
- Share the load, and
- Deal with disruptions.
It is more a work book than a text book. And it is sequential in nature. There is little value in being organised if you have not worked out where you are going. Only when you have your priorities, systems and network in place, is it possible to minimise disruptions.
The book is also iterative in nature. Once you have worked through the sequence and developed a new set of habits, then it time to start again. Not to redo what you have already done, but to refine it.
I have to confess that I have not yet met a single person who is a perfect time manager. The skills and techniques that I have recorded are an amalgam of maybe a thousand people that I have interacted with in more than thirty years. They were people from all walks of life, at all levels of organisations. Some I met in community service relationships, others were doctors that I consulted, some were people I worked for, others worked with me or for me.
