Time mismanagement
There's no such thing as time management
“Year (noun) — A period of three hundred and sixty-five disappointments”. — Ambrose Bierce 1
How well do you use your time?
We live in a world of constant distractions, with all manner of products, people, and social media platforms competing for our attention — including this one 🙂.
And we all get 168 hours per week, every week, to use wisely or wastefully.
My first encounter with the idea of time management was nearly 40 years ago when the consulting firm I worked for laid on a training session on the topic for those of us in senior roles. 2
The trainer opened the session by saying:
“So, we're here today to learn about time management — yes?”
We mostly nodded and grunted in the kind of way you do when you’re wondering whether this is going to be a complete waste of your time…
He continued:
“Well, the first thing I have to tell you is — there’s no such thing as time management”.
That got everyone’s attention...
He went on:
“Let me demonstrate what I mean. Who could find two days for me in your schedule next week”.
No one raised their hand.
He continued:
“Let me rephrase the question: If I gave you a million pounds, who could find two days for me in their schedule next week?”
Everyone raised their hand.
He went in for the kill:
“You see; it’s not about time management. It’s about priority management. When your priorities are clear, you won’t waste your time.”
His presentation triggered a lot of conversation, as his central point had struck home.
Which is probably why I remember it four decades later.
When our priorities aren’t crystal clear, viscerally and intellectually, we lose focus.
The important gets displaced by the urgent.
Or by the shiny.
Or the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
And our most vital non-renewable resource, the 168 hours we each get every week, slips away.
Focus is vitally important.
In a 2014 interview for Vanity Fair, Sir Jony Ive, former Chief Designer at Apple, said this about Steve Jobs:
“Steve was the most remarkably focused person I ever met in my life.
The thing with focus is that it’s not this thing you aspire to, or you decide on Monday “you know what I'm going to be focused”.
It’s every minute: “Why are we talking about this? This is what we’re working on".
You can achieve so much when you truly focus.” 3
It definitely applies to creating a future-fit organisational culture.
When you see with crystal clarity that the highest systemic leverage is achieved by focusing precisely and deeply on the mindsets that keep the organisation trapped in the habits of the past, you’ll realise it’s a waste of time and energy focusing somewhere else. 4
You can achieve so much more when you truly focus.
Questions for reflection
How wisely do you use your time?
Where does your energy go to waste?
Where might you redirect your focus to make better use of your time and energy?
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911): The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Devil's Dictionary
I worked for the open innovation consulting firm Cambridge Consultants from 1983-1995.
For more detail, see this previous article: Focus on key influencers.