If you cannot manage your time something or someone will manage it for you. Last week I paid close attention to how I was spending my time, not just the day in general but the minutes and the hours. If you are tired of not having enough day at the end of your diary and important tasks remain undone what I learned will give you a new perspective on your chores and may help you to change the way you think about your priorities and how best to manage your time.
The Big Picture versus the Little Picture
It all started while looking at my latest utilities bill and possible ways of making savings by reducing our household consumption. I started by breaking down my monthly consumption figures into individual units of energy. It is really easy to lose track of a valuable commodity if it is only seen as a “big picture”. It is possible to become so familiar with something that we give it a general name like Utilities.
In reality our utilities bill each month is made up of a number of elements each with their own pricing structures. Electricity is sold in units called kilowatt-hours, gas is sold by volume, telephony is sold per minute and generally, broadband is sold in gigabytes. When looking at a bill in this manner one can suddenly see the complexity of the process and what was once seen as a bulk monthly payment now becomes that sum of a number of smaller charges. My electricity charges are no longer seen as a lump amount of £70 per month but rather as 11, 7 pence per unit per hour. This helps me to understand that the 250watt standing lamp in my lounge which was left on by accident after a hurried departure on a 7 day holiday added £5.00 on the electricity bill alone.
This detailed review of my utilities bills prompted me to turn my attention to another very valuable commodity, one which in recent years I have become increasingly appreciative of; my precious time.
Rethinking the diary
A quick flick through my diary pages reveal two things, one, in spite of chanting the same mantra as everybody else, "I don't have the time", I noticed that not all my time has been accounted for. They are gaps in the timeslots on each page, example, Friday had five tasks and these were written down, not in the time a location column that in the to-do column on the side. I had viewed much tasks as tasks to be done rather then appointments to be held. Secondly I had squeezed to chores into my Friday to do list which would have bet have been done on Saturday morning.
Chores become Appointments
When we view our time in terms of minutes and hours rather than simply as days, we are more likely to use the time wisely, as the old saying goes "take care of the pennies and pounds will take care of themselves", so it follows that if we take care of the minutes, we are more likely to find that the hours are taking care of themselves.
The positive result should be that we get more done and have time to spare and in so doing, banish the words, "sorry, I’ve got a lot to do and don’t have any time at present” and begin saying more of “I'd love to have coffee with you, I have a couple of hours, when were you thinking of?
It all started while looking at my latest utilities bill and possible ways of making savings by reducing our household consumption. I started by breaking down my monthly consumption figures into individual units of energy. It is really easy to lose track of a valuable commodity if it is only seen as a “big picture”. It is possible to become so familiar with something that we give it a general name like Utilities.
In reality our utilities bill each month is made up of a number of elements each with their own pricing structures. Electricity is sold in units called kilowatt-hours, gas is sold by volume, telephony is sold per minute and generally, broadband is sold in gigabytes. When looking at a bill in this manner one can suddenly see the complexity of the process and what was once seen as a bulk monthly payment now becomes that sum of a number of smaller charges. My electricity charges are no longer seen as a lump amount of £70 per month but rather as 11, 7 pence per unit per hour. This helps me to understand that the 250watt standing lamp in my lounge which was left on by accident after a hurried departure on a 7 day holiday added £5.00 on the electricity bill alone.
This detailed review of my utilities bills prompted me to turn my attention to another very valuable commodity, one which in recent years I have become increasingly appreciative of; my precious time.
Rethinking the diary
A quick flick through my diary pages reveal two things, one, in spite of chanting the same mantra as everybody else, "I don't have the time", I noticed that not all my time has been accounted for. They are gaps in the timeslots on each page, example, Friday had five tasks and these were written down, not in the time a location column that in the to-do column on the side. I had viewed much tasks as tasks to be done rather then appointments to be held. Secondly I had squeezed to chores into my Friday to do list which would have bet have been done on Saturday morning.
Chores become Appointments
- Treat each chore as you would have an appointment with the client. Allocated it time as you would time spent on a business call or a business meeting. This will serve two purposes firstly, because it is now an "appointment" you will be obliged to complete it. Secondly, because you are allocating a specific amount of time to it you will be less likely to waste time completing it.
- By treating tasks as appointments you will find it easier to prioritise your tasks by levels of importance and logistical importance. This prevents you from travelling in the same direction twice to complete tasks that were essentially located in close proximity to each other and should you need to change something urgently the least important tasks can be rescheduled.
- As you go about your daily affairs and you remember other important tasks which need attention, resist the temptation to write them directly into your diary in another day's to-do section. Instead, simply jot them down on a piece of paper in the back of your diary and at the end of the day when preparing your diary for the next day only then revisit this list. This will allow you to consider these tasks when you are able to think clearer about how to best prioritise them in terms of importance, time required to complete them and the date they are to be completed.
When we view our time in terms of minutes and hours rather than simply as days, we are more likely to use the time wisely, as the old saying goes "take care of the pennies and pounds will take care of themselves", so it follows that if we take care of the minutes, we are more likely to find that the hours are taking care of themselves.
The positive result should be that we get more done and have time to spare and in so doing, banish the words, "sorry, I’ve got a lot to do and don’t have any time at present” and begin saying more of “I'd love to have coffee with you, I have a couple of hours, when were you thinking of?
RSS Feed