If you have ever taken a course on time management you may have found it’s like trying to put one gallon of time in a half gallon container? Yes, there is a place for time management but is learning to “manage time” going to revolutionize your life? What we need is not “time management” but a “time revolution”.
If you want to double your income can you work twice as long? How about twice as hard? If the answer to either of these questions is no then you need to “revolutionize” your life and read this article. We will discuss:
- Why we currently have more than enough time.
- Why we are wasting time.
- How to create a “time revolution” and change your life.
At the bottom of the ladder of time revolution is the “system” of how you track your appointments and tasks. This is where most time management systems focus. We will touch on in another article. In this article let’s begin with why we are literally drowning in more than enough time to accomplish everything we want in life.
The Pareto Principle states that 80% of the effects of an event come from 20% of the causes. In theory 80% of what you accomplished came from just 20% of your efforts. One day worth of work contributed to 80% of what you accomplished in a 5 day week. The question then becomes what did you do with the remaining 80% of your time? Let’s find out.
For the next exercise please make a list of the tasks you work on during the week. Try to list at least 10. Next, identify which 20% tasks contributed 80% of your results. How much time did you spend doing those top tasks? What would happen if you doubled the time you spent on them? What if 80% of the time you could just work on those tasks? Now that you have the big picture let’s look at the details.
There are only 3 things to do with a task, do more of it, less of it, or stop doing it. Please identify what you would like to do for each item on the list.
Once you know what you should focus on let the revolution begin. By spending more time on those key 20% tasks you will find yourself accomplishing much more and working much less. Try and outsource or delegate the lower value tasks you cannot stop doing altogether.
In this article I shared how 80% of your time is currently being frittered away on lower value tasks. I helped you identify the tasks that will most contribute to the life you really want. Then we discussed “revolutionizing” your life by spending the majority of your time just doing things that mattered the most.
If you have questions about your individual situation and how this applies I am happy to reply, just e-mail me at todd.colbeck@ccgcoaching.com. Viva la Revolution!
By Todd Colbeck MBA
President
Colbeck Coaching Group
I agree with much of what you say Todd.
Essentially there is no such thing as ‘Time Management’ There is only ‘Priority Management’.
All we can manage – in reality – is where we choose to put our focus and energy moment to moment – and that’s about managing priorities.
I also agree that the ‘System’ is at the bottom of the ladder.
Continuing with your analogy I put it this way:
Your Purpose is at the top of the ladder and are served by your Goals
Your Goals are served by your tasks
Your Tasks are served by your principles and processes
Your principles and processes are served by your tools and systems.
Productivity tools are important BUT their position in the productivity hierarchy is at the foot of the ladder!
Your Principles