THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH TIME if you ask most people, busy people. There are always things to do and by the time you’ve finished your ‘to do’ list, there’s usually a whole host of other ‘things’ waiting to be taken care of. So many things to do. So many potential problems to consider with our time.
Time is something that everyone gets in equal proportion; we all have the same 24 hours in our day. Some days we feel like we have accomplished a lot and others not. When we use our time wisely we get a sense of peace. However, we often feel alienated from ourselves when we pursue other people’s priorities, or simply don’t have time to do the things that are most important to us. Time for things like planning, preparation, and recreation is key to our overall happiness and well-being.
Stress time is a key issue for some. When we succumb to the fear of the unknown and are left to think: “What comes next”, and often find our thoughts drift towards anticipation of the immediate future, this can be stressful; some, in fact, have mild or even major phobias about weather in this way. It creates all kinds of short and long term effects. One potential remedy worth considering might be to exercise mind control and have something else to occupy our thoughts to distract us from this kind of convincing reaction.
We must strive to balance time with our motivations; what drives us We want to do a lot of things that we may not have time to do; the things that are most important to us. This will inevitably create dissonance within us as mentioned above.
So how do we optimize our time? How do we make the best use of it? Well, one thing we don’t want to do is waste time. I recently learned of four potential time wasters. Simply put, they are email, voicemail, interruptions, and procrastination, and they are certainly relevant. This is not to say that any of these activities is a complete a waste of time, but we must be careful, that’s all.
We often get caught up in these things. Either we become lazy, or we want to please people, or we struggle to have the courage to do the right thing. It is worth looking for the causes of succumbing to these time wasters, so the changes have a better chance of ‘sticking’. Change itself is difficult: it must be decided upon and then persist for many weeks before it takes root in our lives.
Email is generally considered a not urgent communication way. Urgent communication really requires other forms of contact, for example face-to-face meetings or phone calls. Answer emails only a couple of times a day; we should not spend more than 30 minutes a day dealing with email, unless we have allocated extra time or have that time ‘up our sleeve’.
Voicemail it is a great innovation if used efficiently. To protect your reachability, be sure to allow certain calls (especially from unknown callers) to go to voicemail, and then delay answering people unless it’s urgent. Sometimes people will be able to work things out without your having to be involved. When leaving messages, be courteous to the caller. Leave your details clearly and do not leave long messages unless it’s going to help the receiver-in any case, please leave messages that do not exceed 60 seconds in length. Limit your time answering voice mail.
interruptions that are counterproductive are unnecessary and timeless. Reduce them by politely challenging the situations and people who create them. Some interruptions are necessary but inopportune; they could distract you from your focus on a high-priority task. Bearing in mind that interruptions can cost you double time(the time of the interruption and the time needed to refocus on the original task), it is advisable to quickly plan a subsequent response and agree it with the person concerned. The ‘double time’ effect of interrupts is even worse when it comes to projects. Once interrupted, a project’s sequence, progress, and chances of success can be seriously undermined unless there is a strong focus to get back on track. The effort required to get the project back on track can also contribute to procrastination; it may be “too hard”. Finally, don’t succumb to “emergencies addiction” and treat interruptions as the first priority; this would be a good way to stress yourself out and reward people for doing the wrong thing sometimes, i.e. stealing your day.
Delay It’s tragic. We all suffer from some procrastination. It comes from the Latin word procrastinate: Pro- (forward) and crastina (of tomorrow) and has links to avoidance behavior, particularly task avoidance. Avoiding doing things is usually caused by psychological factors such as fear of failure possibly based on, for example, a lack of clarity, or simply because the task may seem overwhelming, and for other reasons. Overcoming procrastination is the key. Do things that might be late in the day or set a deadline and then reward yourself for meeting it.
So what do we do with the information? One thing I’ve learned: FAD. 1) Archive, 2) Act on the information, or 3) Delete it. When ‘acting’, be sure to reply, forward or delegate the information. It’s a great relief when you get to a point where you ‘handle’ information efficiently and don’t let it (or surrounding circumstances) confuse and hold you back.
Like the weather, information should be “for you” and not “against you”: information is your friend, not your enemy.
(C) 2007 Steve Wickham
Thanks to Franklin Covey (2002) Focus | Achieve your highest priorities – course literature, keeping your focus.
