Time is a precious commodity; We only have so much of it and exactly how much is unknown. We cannot earn it, mine or buy more of it and each of us spends time whether we want to or not; Every second puts more time behind us. We can save it but never slow its passing.
A Greek philosopher called Theophrastus, (371 - 287 BC), once said, time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
I agree completely and whilst I have wasted time in my life, which I lament, time has also brought me greater clarity, perspective and understanding...Which means I waste less time moving forward.
As a manager and leader it is my responsibility to keep my team productive and whilst I'm not a whip-cracker I like to keep an eye on where time goes. It is with that in mind I decided to implement a little concept with a few key people in my team. It's something I do myself, five days a week at my job and I thought others could benefit.
This is how it goes...It's really simple.
It's a simple process of evaluation. I evaluate the previous three hours every three hours so at 0900, 1200, 1500, 1800 and 2100.
I'm usually awake at 6am or earlier so at 9am (0900) I consider the last three hours; What did I do and how efficient was I at it? Was I distracted and if so why? Did I achieve my goals or tasks and if not why and how did the time rate out of ten - what can I do to improve that score?
This takes a couple of minutes, no more; I set a plan for the next three hours and away I go.
At 12pm I do the same...At 3pm (1500) I do the same and so on.
What's actually happening is I'm holding myself accountable, determining what went right or wrong in the last three hours, setting a new plan and moving forward. I see little point in evaluating one's day at home time...One can't go back in time and change the day right? Knowing what to change at 1200, for instance, means the next six hours have a better chance at being spent more productively.
The 6pm (1800) evaluation involves a little future-planning for the next day and then I'm off home. Easy as that.
At 9pm (2100) I evaluate the day in full, rate it out of ten and ask myself what could I do better tomorrow. If a 7/10 what would make it an 8/10...That sort of thing.
Keep in mind I'm talking about a work day, a structured part of my life where I need to chase results, make budgets and lead a team to do the same. I'm not talking about doing this in my personal life, the weekends et cetera. I do something else there, a post for another time maybe.
Evaluating my working day throughout the day allows me to make changes and, if it's lagging, bring it back on track. This is my way of getting more value out of time.
I implemented this in my team and whilst they probably thought it was dumb they realised there was room for improvement.
Once they realised where the wasted time was going they were able to put measures in place which delivered greater efficiency with less stress and disorder. A less stressed team makes for a happier team, less errors, greater efficiency, more flexibility and an improved level of productivity...And what does it cost? A total of about 10 minutes a day. If their work is done I also permit extended lunch breaks and going home early...I know, I'm an awesome leader.
I'm not saying this process will work for you, or for anyone other than my team to be quite honest. There's other concepts that work together with this one and combined they bring us the results I am looking for though. We use an ideal fortnight-planner for each team member, block out time, do not disturb signs, phone diversion during particular tasks and even put mobile phone in drawer time which means they avoid the temptation to look at it three hundred times a minute. These, and a few other things deliver results for me and my team, and I do each one personally as well.
As our ancient friend Theophrastus said, time is valuable and whilst we can't gain more, we can make the moments we do have work a little better and more efficiently.
There must be a million time-saving tips out there, ways to do more in the same time and to ensure one is productive...This is just one simple thing I use...Simple, but effective.
How do you find productivity in your day and life? What measures do you implement, or do you simply let time carry you along? There's no right or wrong answer, just your answer, and mine.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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