The Time-Management Paradox
I’m convinced that a big reason it can be difficult to reach a goal is because much of what is required of you is counter intuitive; a paradox.
You know the saying “less is more”? I think that can be a good rule of thumb when it comes to success whether business or in life (not to mention fashion).
If you want to get control over your time spend less time on urgent, crisis management and more time on important, non-urgent tasks. I’m not talking about avoiding the fire drills, but about taking control of your time.
To do this it’s important that you take some time every day to focus on an important task or project that is not in a crisis mode. This should be a practice you have regardless of what else in going on.
Yes, it takes discipline letting the already late project get to be an hour later – or letting the phone roll into voice mail. It might feel like you can’t afford to do this with so many deadlines, messages, overdue projects. But, I submit that you can’t afford to NOT adopt this routine. Running around in a defensive, reactive mode; spending your day reacting to what’s “on fire” is what is keeping you in a crisis cycle. Unless you take the time to focus on the important and non-urgent tasks they will become the urgent “fire drills’ of tomorrow.
A late report, a client’s phone message, an empty refrigerator, a dirty bathroom – all of these things need to be taken care of. But ask yourself if it really matters whether you handle the report, the call, the bathroom, etc. right that second or will the world survive if you took care of it one hour from then. Most of the time, it probably would not matter one bit.
Set aside a minimum of one hour every day to work on a task or a project that is important but not yet “on fire”. You owe it to yourself to take the time to be successful. All it takes is a vision – a dose of BOLDness and one hour a day.
You know the saying “less is more”? I think that can be a good rule of thumb when it comes to success whether business or in life (not to mention fashion).
If you want to get control over your time spend less time on urgent, crisis management and more time on important, non-urgent tasks. I’m not talking about avoiding the fire drills, but about taking control of your time.
To do this it’s important that you take some time every day to focus on an important task or project that is not in a crisis mode. This should be a practice you have regardless of what else in going on.
Yes, it takes discipline letting the already late project get to be an hour later – or letting the phone roll into voice mail. It might feel like you can’t afford to do this with so many deadlines, messages, overdue projects. But, I submit that you can’t afford to NOT adopt this routine. Running around in a defensive, reactive mode; spending your day reacting to what’s “on fire” is what is keeping you in a crisis cycle. Unless you take the time to focus on the important and non-urgent tasks they will become the urgent “fire drills’ of tomorrow.
A late report, a client’s phone message, an empty refrigerator, a dirty bathroom – all of these things need to be taken care of. But ask yourself if it really matters whether you handle the report, the call, the bathroom, etc. right that second or will the world survive if you took care of it one hour from then. Most of the time, it probably would not matter one bit.
Set aside a minimum of one hour every day to work on a task or a project that is important but not yet “on fire”. You owe it to yourself to take the time to be successful. All it takes is a vision – a dose of BOLDness and one hour a day.