“Time” Management for Our Times
My mentor, for over twenty years, has been the legendary Brian Tracy. I recently uncovered an article from his newsletter that has had a dramatic effect on my life since. In 2010, Mr. Tracy wrote of the Law of Correspondence. He explains that “this law says that your outer life tends to be a mirror image of your inner life. Everywhere you look, there you are. Everywhere you look, you see yourself reflected back. You do not see the world as it is, but as you are – inside. So if you want to change what is going on in your world around you- your relationships, results, and rewards-you have to change what is happening in the world inside you. Fortunately, this is the only part of your life over which you have complete control.”
He went on to say that “the starting point of excelling in time management is desire. Almost everyone feels that their time management skills could be vastly better than they are. The key to motivation is ‘motive.” For you to develop sufficient desire to develop Time Power, you must be intensely motivated by the benefits you feel you will enjoy.”
Much has changed in the years since this article was printed. The pace of life and business dictates a different approach to traditional time management. We now recognize that it is not crucial to managing our time to get everything we think we need to complete. Instead, the quick pace of a digital world dictates that we clearly understand our priorities and then manage our time around solely getting our high-priority tasks completed. But, then, feeling good about letting low-priority tasks wait.
The keyword in understanding what is and isn’t a priority task is to understand the consequence. You should now ask yourself what would happen (good or bad) if you didn’t do a particular job. If the consequence is high, then you MUST do it. If it’s low, the task goes onto a “later” list, and if there is no consequence, the job goes into the trash.
I have seen individuals double their productivity in 24 hours by simply applying this simple rule. Just think about the effect that this rule would have on your life if you could recapture just an extra two hours a day. Two extra hours per day multiply by five days per week equals ten extra hours a week. Ten extra hours a week multiplied by fifty weeks a year would give you 500 extra productive hours each year. And 500 extra hours translates into more than twelve forty-hour weeks or the equivalent of three additional months of productive working time each year. This magic happens simply by disciplining yourself only to do high-priority tasks.
Heck, forget about working more. What would it mean to you to spend more time with the family or take a long-needed vacation without feeling guilty? Instead of thinking that you had to work 75 hours a week, you now could get the same if not more accomplished in 55 hours.
Lives have changed with the application of this simple principle.
I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
Everyone has the power of PRIORITY Management. But, first, you need to decide if you want to change or if you’re ok with a lifetime of complaining about how long you work.
Personally, I’m taking a vacation.