CEO Chronicles # 34 : How To Challenge Time And Win! August 25th, 2020
To challenge time and win, we need to master Three Principles.
Time is My Enemy!
“I am sorry, my dear, Daddy cannot come and watch you submit your homework online, Daddy is very busy with video calls…
“My apologies for the delay in submitting the report, sir; I had too much on my plate and just could not find the time…”
“Sorry, darling, we will need to cancel our vacation this year. I am snowed under, I don’t even have the time to breathe…”
How often have we said or heard similar words! At so many junctures in life, we have felt that time is our enemy, preventing us from achieving our diverse goals. How often have we felt that time is like fine sand – and the more we try to hold on to it, the more it slips away…
So, How Do We Win Against Time?
Time is our only truly finite resource: we may gain any amount of wealth, or success, or employees, or friends – but each of us gets 24 hours in a day, and a single lifetime’s worth of time. Because time seems limited, it is natural to feel that time is an enemy out to get us.
But this isn’t true. Time fails us because we fail in our approach to time.
We need to change our approach and learn the Three Principles that will allow us to challenge time and win.
The ‘But’ Conundrum
A few years ago, my mentor changed my whole attitude about time with one simple exercise.
He wrote, “I want to go to the beach but I have to work,” on the blackboard, illustrating a classic time squeeze conundrum.
“Is this true?” he asked me. “Let’s explore.”
Below “I want to go to the beach” he wrote: “I don’t want to go to the beach.”
And below “I have to work” he wrote: “I don’t have to work.”
“Now let’s remove the lies,” he said. “Is it true that I don’t want to go the beach? No.” And he crossed out I don’t want to go to the beach.
“Is it true that I don’t have to work? No.” And he crossed out I don’t have to work.
“There’s one more lie,” he said. “The third lie is ‘but.'”
He crossed out that single word, and with it my whole misunderstanding of time and choices.
“But” is about struggling with something that you don’t want.
However, if you like your job and you like the beach then you’re not struggling, you’re choosing.
“I want to go to the beach and I have to work.”
Getting rid of the “but” is the best way to start making time your friend.
Principle # 1 : Change The Narrative
Humans live by the calendar and the clock. We learn early that we must be on time or bad things will happen. Be late to pay your bills and you are penalised. Be late to finish your work and you lose that promotion.
A common phrase we use (and hear being used) is, “Life is too short to…”, implying that time is an opponent to be outraced.
But this narrative is wrong! It is because of the abundance of time and life that we want to seek change and transformation. Life is too long not to make the best of it!
When you have a problem that needs fixing, imagine what your life would be like if you delayed taking action to fix it.
See yourself a year from now with this problem still hanging around. What impact has it had on you? How has it hurt your relationships? What is it doing to you at work? What cost have you paid to your health?
Now take it out to five years. What have you lost? How much have you suffered? What have the people close to you been forced to pay?
When we consider the impact that leaving something unresolved for a long period of time can cause us, we realize the value of taking action in this moment. Time isn’t out to hurt us here. It is giving us an opportunity. And time is there for us, with us, waiting for you to take charge and choose.
The ‘Axe’ Conundrum
Once upon a time, a strong woodcutter got a job with a timber merchant. The pay was really good. The woodcutter was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he supposed to work.
The first day, the woodcutter brought down 18 trees.
“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Keep up the great work!”
Very motivated, the woodcutter tried even harder the next day, but he could only cut 15 trees.
The third day he tried even harder, and worked for even longer hours but he could only bring down 10 trees.
The woodcutter was despondent. “However hard or long I work, I am not able to achieve my goal!”
He went to the boss and apologised, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.
“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe,” replied the woodcutter, “I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”
Principle # 2 : Focus Your Energy
The secret to lasting success is not managing time or working harder – it is about managing yourself, specifically your focus and energy.
We all have the same 24 hours every day. The main reason why some people achieve more in any given day than most people do in a month, is not because they manage time better – it is because they focus their energies better.
Every human is a storehouse of different forms of energy – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. Each of these energies have their own rhythms and peaks and troughs. Each of these energies is renewable, and keeps getting sharpened, like an axe.
Instead of scheduling around time, we need to plan around our energy and willpower levels. By matching the times of the day we have the most energy with our most important tasks, we can significantly improve what we achieve.
As a rule, schedule your most important creative tasks at some point in the early hours of waking up when you have the most energy.
On the other hand, schedule your low creative tasks – emails, social media, phone calls – in the latter part of the day when your energy and willpower is lowest.
Here’s a quick example of scheduling around your energy levels –
- Creative energy (best between 4:00 -11:00 AM)
- Social energy (best between 6:00 -11:00 PM)
- Communication energy (phone calls, email, texts) (best between 2:00 – 5:00 PM)
- Learning energy (any time except afternoon)
Managing ourselves and scheduling around energy, rather than time, allows us to sustain and enhance our productivity and achievement.
One of Tony Robbins’ most memorable lines is, “Where focus goes, energy flows.”
The ‘Bucket’ Conundrum
The Professor stood at the head of the class. On his desk were a bag of sand, a bag of pebbles, some big rocks and bucket. He asked for a volunteer to put all three grades of stone into the bucket. A student stepped up to carry out the task, starting with the sand, then the pebbles, then the rocks. Sadly, the rocks do not all fit in the bucket.
The Professor then emptied out the bucket, separating the sand, pebbles and rocks on the desk once again.
“This is an analogy to time management,” he said. “If you’d have put the rocks in first, then the pebbles, then the sand, all three would have fit. By completing your most critical tasks first, you leave room to complete the less important tasks, and then your least critical ones. In tackling your least tasks first, you spend so much time on them that you leave yourself unable to complete the higher priority tasks satisfactorily. Let me show you..”
The Professor re-filled the bucket, big rocks first, then pebbles, then sand, shaking the bucket between each so that everything fits.
“There is always time,” said the Professor, “It is how we use it that makes the difference between success and failure.
Principle # 3 : Plan and Prioritize
Very often, we treat time as an unlimited resource. We hedge. And we procrastinate. We will ‘do it soon’, or ‘tomorrow’, or ‘as soon as I can’.
Time, like health, wellness and money, needs to be planned. For example, if you take a few minutes on Sunday to create a plan for your whole week, you will walk into work on Monday morning with a plan that will help you focus on priorities.
Schedule low-priority tasks for Mondays and other low-energy times. Complete creative and demanding tasks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Schedule meetings for Thursday, when your team’s energy starts to decline. Use your Fridays for planning and networking. Use the first 30 minutes of your day to create a daily to-do list that suits your weekly plan.
Prioritize the big tasks – place the rocks in the bucket first. Once you complete these, you will feel a sense of well-being that will allow you to race through the others.
Planning gives you visibility. Prioritizing gives you control.
As Dale Carnegie said long ago, “An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing.”
Time To Win
It is time to take control.
It is time to challenge time and win, with these Three Principles:
- Change the narrative. Move from ‘struggle’ to ‘choice’
- Focus your energy. Sharpen the axe, don’t swing it harder
- Plan and prioritize. Take charge of the future.
If you master these Three Principles, you win the battle with time…
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Cheers | Shesh | Singapore | 25 August 2020.
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