CHAPTER 1
HOW TO THINK ABOUT TIME
âFor tyme ylost may nought recovered be.â
âCHAUCER
More than 600 years ago, Geoffrey Chaucerâen route to Canterburyâmarveled that time (once lost) could never be recovered. Through the centuries, men and women have continued the quest for that âineffable ineluctable essenceâ of time control. Consultant Peter Drucker, a modern tour guide whose destination was not Canterbury but the industrial park called Good Management, said grimly: âTime is the scarcest resource. Unless it is managed, nothing can be managed.â
DIAGNOSTIC TEST: YOU AND TIME
WHAT THE TEST SAYS ABOUT YOU
Give yourself 4 points for every âoftenâ you checked. Give yourself 2 points for every âsometimes.â Give yourself 0 points for every ârarely.â
Add your points and place yourself with the proper group:
49-60 You manage your time well. You are in control of most days and most situations.
37-48 You manage your time well some of the time. However, you need to be more consistent with time-saving strategies. Adding new techniques is allowed!
25-36 You are all too often a victim of time. Donât let each day manage you. Apply the techniques you learn here right away.
13-24 You are close to losing control. Probably too disorganized to enjoy quality time. A new priority-powered time plan is needed now!
0-12 You are overwhelmed, scattered, frustrated, and probably under a lot of stress. Put the techniques in this book into practice. Flag chaptersâfor special studyâthat treat your problem areas.
THE CONTRADICTIONS OF TIME
Yes, time can be managed, but not the way you manage other resources. In fact, âtime managementâ may be a misconception. In many cases, time manages you.
Business is concerned with wise management of resources: capital, physical, human, information, and time. The first four can be manipulated. You can increase your workforce, decrease it, or change its composition. With capital, you can increase it, save it, spend it, or hold steady. You can invest it in a new plant or use it to fund a branch office. If you need more, you can issue public stock, get a loan, or increase your product prices.
But time, the âineffable resource,â is unique. It is finite. There is only so much time, and no matter what you do, you canât get more. Itâs the only resource that must be spent (invested or wasted) the instant you get it. And you must spend at one never-varying rate: 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour. No discounts, no inflation.
Thus, the very notion of time control is a paradox. For you can only manage yourself in relation to time. You cannot choose whether to spend it, but only how. Once you waste time, itâs goneâand it cannot be replaced.
In fact, time was created by humankind as a convenienceâan expensive convenience when you buy it from someone else. In Maryland a man pays his doctor $100 for keeping him waiting. In New York a woman pays someone $300 an hour to do her shoppingâout of a catalogue. For under $200 you can have a fax machine put in your care, alongside your cellular phone.
What has all this gained us? Not more time. We already know there isnât any more. Not more freedom. If you pay someone to pick up your laundry while you stay late at the office, youâre only trading one chore for another.
But do not despair. Time management techniques can save you at least an hour a day, probably two. But the real question is, Will you use those two extra hours to good advantage?
Time is the basic stuff of the universe. Most people feel theyâre wasting barrels of this irreplaceable commodity. Theyâre right. Good management of time is probably the single most important factor in managing yourself, your work, and indeed the work of others. Once you stop trying to wrestle time to the ground, its grip on you eases. Donât try to âconquerâ time. Work with it. Make it your friend.
Time management, like other management disciplines, responds to analysis and planning. To place yourself on good terms with time, you must know what problems you encounter in applying it wisely, and what causes those problems. From this base you can improve your effectiveness in and around time.
Time management, a personal process, must fit your style and circumstances. Changing old habits requires strong commitment; however, if you choose to apply the principles, you can obtain the rewards.
Where is the best place to begin digging into priority-oriented time management? Check the ways you control time available to you now. No one has total control over a daily schedule. Someone or something always makes demands. However, you have as much control as anyone elseâand probably more than you realize. Even within structured time you have opportunities to select which tasks to handle at what priorities. In exercising your discretionary choices, you begin to control your time.
TIME: AN ENIGMA WRAPPED IN A RIDDLE
Probably everyone has said at one time or another: âI would if I had the time,â or, âThere just isnât enough time,â or, âSomeday, Iâll do that when I have time.â The idea that people are about to run out of time is widespread. But that just isnât true. Itâs a paradox. Although time is not in short supply, it must be rationed.
Consider the supply question. Your basic truth about supply is this: You have as much time as Methuselah hadâ24 hours each day. Moreover, no one since Methuselah has been richer in time than you. Further, timeâs distribution would delight the most zealous egalitarian. It never discriminates regardless of sex, sect, station, or degree. So worrying about the supply of time is pointless. The supply has never been better.
Then why this need to ration a commodity every person has in full measure? For one reasonâdifferent rules apply to two classes of time: (1) time thatâs under your personal control, and (2) time youâve contracted to another for pay.
ON YOUR OWN TIME
Your own time is not nearly as scarce as widespread wailing indicates. Say you work 40 hours a week for nearly 49 weeks per year (52 weeks less 2 weeks of vacation and six holidays). In a year your work time comes to 1,952 hours. Deduct that from your total inventory of timeâ8,760 (365 Ă 24) hours a year. Then deduct 488 hours for traveling to and from your job, 1,095 hours for meals (3 hours a day every day of the year), another 365 hours for dressing and undressing (1 hour a day), and 8 hoursâ sleep a nightâcount 2,920 hours for that. Your total deduction: 6,820 hours. Subtract 6,820 from 8,760 and you get 1,940 hours to do as you please. Thatâs nearly 81 days of 24 hours apiece, 22 percent of the entire year!
TIME LAB:
Q&A ON EFFECTIVENESS
Q. Isnât good time management at bottom what youâd expect from any efficient person?
A. To be efficient is to use the fewest resources for a given task. Effectiveness is a function of goal accomplishment (either you reach your objective or you donât). Many people become quite efficient doing things that donât need to be done in the first place. Determine first what you should be doing. Then ask how it can be done most efficiently. Do the right things right.
Q. Sure, I see using time management for important tasks. Isnât that enough without all the small stuff, too?
A. Day-to-day activities need the most planning. Keep a daily time record. Identify the patterns. Use this information in scheduling. Emphasize early actions. As the morning goes, so does the day. Recall the old polâs axiom: âAs Maine goes, so goes the nation.â
Q. You tell me to work on priorities. But they wonât let me!
A. You must control not only priorities but them (whomever they are). When tempted to deviate from your plan, ask, âIs what I am about to do more important than what I planned to do?â If more important, go right ahead. If not (usually the case), look for ways to postpone, reschedule, or delegate.
Q. Canât most competent managers identify their biggest time wasters?
A. Without a system, itâs hard. Try reconstructing last weekâyouâll see. Habits are automatic. Your time patterns often become inconsistent with what youâre trying to accomplish. Most managers waste at least two hours every day but donât know where. Keep a time log. Determine where time is being wasted. Youâll be surprised!
Q. Iâd like to get time organized, I really would. But wonât I then miss out on spontaneous opportunities?
A. Priority-powered managers believe in planned spontaneity. Once youâre on top of things, take Wednesday morning off. Do whatever strikes your fancy. Schedule fun in your life. Manage activities better so you gain more time to do other things you enjoy. Good time management means decreasing marginal commitments and increasing true priorities.
Q. Isnât writing out objectives a waste of time? I could be doingânot scribbling.
A. Writing out your plan is always a good investment. (âIf you donât know where youâre going, youâll get there in a hurry!â) Too often mental notes are vague and ill defined. You wonât forget written goals. Writing increases commitment. The greater your commitment, the more likely you will accomplish your goals.
Q. Canât most managers find many ways to save time on their own?
A. Yes, to some extent. But your need is to invest time. There is no way to save time. It cannot be banked for the future. All time is real time. It must all be utilized now. Waste it, or invest it. The choice is yours.
Q. My astrological sign is inconsistent with being organized. Doesnât that mean Iâm hopeless with time control?
A. To priority-activate time is to take action on purpose instead of settling for random selection. Weâre sure youâre kidding about your horoscope. Your own free will is the critical element.
Is this so niggardly youâd file a formal complaint? âMaybe not,â you demur. âStill, itâs not enough. Look at all the things I canât get done because there isnât time!â
âFar from being overwhelmed with things to do, youâre simply indecisive about selecting ways to fill those hours,â the skeptic might say. But who better than you to say whether your own time problem is (1) too many demands, or (2) too many options? Either way, the solution is better management of time.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
In this book youâll learn to set long-range goals in both personal and professional arenas. Then, working backward, youâll plan successively shorter-range objectives. Each is a specific target with a deadline; taken one at a time, each will lead you toward one of your long-range goals.
Next, youâll learn about setting priorities and youâll practice a technique for rank ordering your activities. These two building blocks serve as a fou...