Chapter 10
One thing that you can't control
The one thing that most people don't have enough of these days is time. Why
is that ? Is there that much more that needs doing ? Are we so pressed that we
need to clone ourselves to get all the work done ? Somehow I don't really think
so. I agree that there are plenty more demands on our time these days but it all
comes down to how we choose to manage it and where we choose to send it.
The one constant thing about time is that it marches relentlessly on. If we
waste a second then it is gone for eternity, never to return. Clearly, time is
one of our most precious resources and something that we have little control
over. Also, clearly, it is impossible to achieve everything that we want to in
the time we have, once you take out the essentials like eat, sleeping and toilet
breaks. One of the major differences between highly successful people and those
merely successful is their management of time. These people recognized a long
time ago that they couldn't control time, the best they could aim for is to be
as efficient as possible as they can with time.
A very interesting experiment is to keep track of exactly what you spend your
time on during a day. If you want to become more efficient in your business keep
track of exactly what you spend you time on for at least a week. After you have
recorded all this information go through the list and allocate each activity
into high, medium and low value activities. Have a look at how much time you
probably spend on low leve activities, such as reading and responding to emails,
browsing the web, chatting and so on. To become more efficient you are going to
have to eliminate these low value activities to make room for the high value
ones.
Note, I didn't say add more items, I said eliminate items. Why ? Well most
business owners probably already have their dance card full. Instead of looking
at the value of the tasks they perform they simply add “one more” item, then
“one more” item and so on. Not only does each new item affect the outcome of all
the items the person is already balancing it generally overloads them. It may
sound strange but the secret to becoming more efficient for most business people
is to actually do less.
In business, especially self-employed business, we need to be ruthless with our
time and focus on the items that are going to earn us the most return.
Unfortunately, too many people spend too much of their time in low value tasks
that should be eliminated or at best delegated to someone else. The problem for
the business person is letting go. Most become so addicted to the feeling of
having the whole business depending on them and having the power of being in
total control that they can't for a moment release control. The problem here is
that in fact these people are not in control, they are out of control. If they
were to get sick or stop doing the work for any reason, then the business would
stop. when you look at it that way, who is control ? As Michael Gerber says, if
you are like this then you don't have a business you have a glorified job.
As with most things the secret to being efficient with your time is not some
expensive time management system that only helps you crowd more onto your dance
card, it is a discipline of continually working to do high value activities
while eliminating or minimizing the lower value ones. The first step in the
process is to actually sit down and record exactly what you are spending your
time on. If you never take the time to look at your self and improve you never
will. It is as simple as that.
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