⏰ A Stitch in Time... management part 2
The story so far
I wrote a book about time management which I want to update. So I am posting the original online and taking suggestions, and some of them seriously!
Part 2
The rationale
The Pareto Principle is well known. 20% of what you do gets you 80% of your results. It follows that time management should be a small investment of your time and energy that rewards you with large and measurable results. Time management should not be tyranny by list!
Neither should it take a long time to learn and begin to implement. Some of this 20% is what you would expect in the way of productivity hacks. Most of it is the inner game of time management and that is always about how we experience time, tasks and life itself.
Foundations
These are the key principles to having a good relationship with time. If you get these right, you will evolve your own time management system that will be perfect for you.
Key understanding number 1 It’s a myth, you know... You can’t manage time.
Time is itself and some claim it is an illusion. Whatever it may or may not be, we cannot do anything to have more of it, or to recover it when it has gone. In the past, experts have used this fact to argue for having rigid priority systems and living your live by a painstakingly graded ‘to do’ list. This can work; it really can, especially in the short term if you have a particular project in mind.
Death by list
However, it really does not work as a long term solution and is a case of the tail wagging the dog. Many people start to work a priority system, such as the one featured in Brian Tracy’s books. They start with good intentions, you may be one of them, I know I was.
The system works for a little while, or at least until the first phone call or nasty email, or sick child takes you off track. Therein lies the problem, you start to live according to a list rather than being responsive to life. I have even found myself at times writing something on my list that I had done but not put on the list just so I could cross it off!
I do not believe we should reduce life to a sterile and rigid discipline. We can certainly try, and depending on our willingness to suffer, we can keep it going for, who knows how long. Perhaps until the first heart attack, or until our spouse leaves us because we never have any time for them as we are desperately trying to keep up with all the very important things on today’s list so we can do it all over again tomorrow.
Phew! Long sentence!
Structure is good
Having said that, in order to be productive, it can help to have a certain structure to your week and your day, but as the old Buddhist story has it, the usefulness of a boat is in crossing the river. You don’t need to carry the boat when you have reached the other side. Similarly, our strictures and structures for life are our best understanding at the time of how life works and how to get done what we want to do. They are only and always provisional – our best guess. As new thoughts and insights come to us and through us we can be flexible enough to adapt our habits of productivity.
**So all comments welcomed, and if you are interested in learning more sign up and download the free workplace stress audio series
