. . . to Use Your Time to Achieve Goals
Time is a great equalizer. You have the same amount of hours in a week as the President of the United States or a person in grinding poverty.
That is the observation of Lynn Banker, a Costa Mesa management consultant and lecturer on time management.
Truth to the Axiom
Of course, how people utilize their time varies greatly. She says there is truth to the axiom that busy people can find time to take on yet another task, while others with seemingly little to do will complain that they can’t find the time. And between these two poles is the person who is always busy but seldom does anything meaningful.
The lesson to be learned is that managing time effectively means more than simply working hard: It is working toward a well-defined goal.
“You can get all kinds of stuff done during the day,” Banker says. “Or you can be so busy that you don’t get anything accomplished.”
Priorities--ranking a number of goals in the order of their importance--are the cornerstones of time management, she says. Goals should be developed in seven areas of your life: professional, personal, financial, social, physical, family and spiritual. The same category will mean different things and have different levels of importance to various people.
Goals should be developed for both the short and long term. An example of a short-term financial goal is to save $100 of your next paycheck. A longer-term financial goal is to save $20,000 for the down payment on a house.
Some people have a natural knack toward long-term goal planning, while others are stronger at making short-term goals. Banker thinks that good long-term goals are the key, because short-term goals are simply steps toward fulfilling a long-range goal.
Good time managers are people who avoid procrastination. Banker, who is a consultant to businesses, says some companies “run by crisis.” That is, they have put off some activities for so long that they are constantly working hard to solve critical problems that would have never arisen if they had been more attentive earlier on. Such businesses, she says, have little time to make real progress. Some people have a similar pattern to their lives.
People often procrastinate when they are faced with a large project--a report to be written or a house to be painted--that they are reluctant to start.
“You tend to stew about it--which takes up some energy right there,” she says. “You wind up not getting it done or doing it at the last minute.”
Break Into Parts
Banker’s advice is to break a large project down into small parts and “to start someplace.”
People also have problems getting things done because they have jobs or life styles in which they are often interrupted. She suggests spending a couple of hours in a quiet environment--which could be going to a library or closing your office door with instructions that you don’t want to be disturbed.
Overwork is another reason why people can’t achieve their goals. Delegation of duties, which Banker calls “nothing more than expanding yourself through other people,” is a good way to cut down on the workload while staying in charge.
In fact, a person who has well-defined goals, properly ordered priorities, an effective system of procrastination control and a strong ability to delegate will get a lot of meaningful work done while not appearing to be particularly busy.
Finally, you need a system to put the goals and priorities to use on a time-effective daily basis. There are a number of fancy scheduling devices being sold, Banker says. They are designed in different ways. You should look at a number of them, and pick the one that would work best with your kind of schedule. When you do decide on a scheduler, stick with it and take it wherever you go.
Don’t be surprised if your scheduler turns out to be a pad of paper.
While such an unsophisticated system is not particularly strong at organizing your activities a week or month from now, it is unparalleled for writing down lists of things to do today or tomorrow.
