If you had eight hours in the US Mint, and could take home all the twenty-dollar bills you could count, how much time would you take for lunch? (If you have an answer other than the only obvious one, you can stop reading here; the rest of this isn’t going to make sense.)
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Funny thing about time: it’s a gift we all get every day, and we all receive exactly the same amount of it, but somehow or another, some of us use it much better than others. Although it’s renewable daily, time is also your only irreplaceable asset. Lose any other asset, and you can replace it. Waste a minute, though, and it’s gone – along with everything you could have done in it. You can’t recycle wasted time. What you do with your time is a matter of judgment.
Will Rogers said, “Good judgment comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgment.” In other words, more important than how you spend your time is how you use it, namely, what comes out of it. If you think about that, it kinda takes some of the air out of a strict, militaristic approach to prioritization of times, schedules, events, and calendars. Certainly, were not abandoning those things that give us our structure, but we are allowing for flexibility, spontaneity, and those ever sought after “happy accidents.” We’re talking time usage , not time management.
Just remember, at any given moment in time you are creating the next moment, but the success of the next one depends on the success of the one you’re in.
All that said, here are 12 guidelines (not rules) for effective time usage and, needless to say, better outcomes.
1. Devote time to planning and organizing. There’s an old story of the woodsman laboring excessively – but not efficiently – to cut logs with a dull saw. When asked why he didn’t take time to go sharpen his saw, he snapped back, “There’s no time for that; look at all the wood I have to cut.” Of course, planning takes time, and when you’re planning, you’re not doing stuff. Be comfortable with the time that you’re planning and “not doing stuff.” Ultimately, you’ll get more stuff done.
2. Set goals with “By” dates. This should be a concise list of the big things you’re going to accomplish in, say, a year or a quarter. It is not a to-do- list (That’s next). Make sure each item has a “By” date. If it doesn’t, it’s a dream, not a goal.
3. Write a “to-do” list – every day. But write it for the next day, so that you leave work with an idea of what needs to happen tomorrow morning. Otherwise, “Write a to-do list” becomes the first item on tomorrow’s to-do list.
4. Prioritize (to a point). For sure, some things will hold priority, but that can change in an instant, up or down. Find your balance between sticking with your plan and going with the flow.
5. Delegate. If you’re not delegating, you’re doing the job that the person reporting to you should be doing. That’s a self-demotion. (Please see my three-part series on delegating in this publication, November 7, 8, and 9.)
6. The 50/50 Rule . Plan 50% of your time and leave 50% for what comes at you. That will be either fires that need to be put out or surprise opportunities that vanish as quickly as they appear.
7. Know your peak times. We all have those times when we are at our best: mornings, alone time, after a brisk walk, group get-togethers, etc. Plan your biggest challenges for those times.
8. Fight procrastination. Schedule your tough tasks early in the day or delegate the right things to the right people. Put a time stamp to this.
9. Do it right the first time. The age-old question: Why is there never time to do it right but always time to do it over? The three most important ingredients in this soup are: pride, care, and mastery.
10. Reduce emergencies and urgencies. “Lack of planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on mine,” said the sign outside the office of a colleague of mine years ago. Collaborative teamwork and culture takes care of this, for the most part.
11. Don’t try to be perfect. Decide to be great. “Perfection is God’s business,” a saying attributed to more people than we can count, “But I can shoot for great,”
12. Affirmation-Confirmation . Start each day by deciding your precious few highest priorities – and affirming, “Today I will,,,” End each day with a confirmation that “Today I did…” Committing yourself and then holding yourself to it doesn’t guarantee a perfect score every day, but it sure raises your batting average.
Now, back to the U. S. Mint.
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