by John Paschall, President/CEO
Would you like to have 26 hours in your day? Which one of us wouldn’t? How many times in the past have all of us said, “I just don’t have enough time to get it all done” or “If I just had a couple of extra hours in the day”. Believe me, I am guilty as charged myself. May I offer my humble opinion? I do not think it is a lack of time – truth is, we have all had the same amount of time in our day since we were born – that’s right, 24 hours. No, it is not a lack of time in most cases; it is a lack of direction or focus. Again, I am guilty as charged.
Brian Tracy, founder of the Institute for Executive Development, says, “Time Management is one of the core skills of life.” How often have we, or one of our employees expressed an interest in training and improvement in the area of time management? Someone much wiser than you and me set those 24 hours in a day quite a long time ago. I just don’t think we can do much about what He has already set up. However, would you be interested in some time management techniques that will save you or in essence “give back” to you an average of 2 hours plus a day for the rest of your life? I kind of thought so.
These are not my original ideas, but are some of the best ones I have picked up over the last 25+ years of listening to and learning from some of the world’s greatest Time Management experts. They are: Automobile University, the Top Five List, and the Flat Biscuit Theory.
Automobile University: I do not think it would be a stretch to say that most of us spend at least 15 minutes in our car driving each day. Many of us spend a good deal more driving to and from work, to and from errands, and to and from our children’s events. Take at least 15 minutes a day and enroll in Automobile University – that is listen to motivational and educational tapes and CD’s while you are driving. That is called a “two-for”. You know, a Two-for-one. Instead of talk radio, music, or even a fictional book on tape/CD, take those 15 minutes a day (or more) and invest in yourself. We have a business library here at the BBB with hundreds of books, tapes, CD’s, cassettes, and videotapes that can help get you started. You are welcome to check them out free of charge. Just ask our team, they are now required every 2 weeks to report to their colleagues on the personal and professional development work they have done over the previous period. 15 minutes a day is not all the time in the world. However, if you will commit to this every day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, guess how much time you will have devoted to personal development and training – 3750 hours in just one year! What kind of skills could you develop in that time? All while you were already doing a required task – driving. You just gave yourself back 1 hour and 15 minutes in a week. And I dare say you are even safer because you are not doing anything with your smart phone – texting, e-mailing, or calling. My Dad taught me this one and I cannot even begin to tell you the impact it has had on my life in the last 25+ years.
The Top Five List: Before you leave your office each day or before you turn in for the evening, take 5-10 minutes and plan the following day. Very simple idea, but deadly effective. List the 5 things that you must get done tomorrow in order of importance. When you get up in the morning, start working on #1, when you finish start on #2, etc. At the end of the day, you will feel energized because you worked on and accomplished the most important things that day – whatever they are. Do the same thing, every day before you start the next day. This simple technique will save you at least 2 hours every week. It will do this because every day you are focused on the 5 things that have to be done that day! And why does this help?
Most business leaders have some idea of their plans for the day, but typically spend at least the first 30 minutes to 1 hour of their time at the office going from thing to thing, e-mails, messages, coffee, last night’s game discussion, before they sit down and think, “well, I wonder what I ought to work on first?” Wasted time – honestly. As I write this to you, it is 6:00 a.m. and I am on #1 of the 13 numbered items for my day – in order of importance. Will I get them all done today? Probably not. But, I will get the most important ones done today, and might even delegate some at the bottom of the list, that I probably should be letting my team work on anyway. This is the idea that Ivy Lee gave to Charles Schwab, head of US Steel many years ago that Schwab ultimately credited for his success in building that historic business.
(Inside tip: If you have one of the five things on your list that you really don’t enjoy doing or is flat undesirable – make it number 1 not number 5 – you will get more done in your day because you will get it out of the way instead of worrying about #5 while doing #1, #2, #3 – you get the picture.)
The Flat Biscuit Theory: Zig Ziglar tells the story of being a youngster and being over at a neighbor’s house for lunch one day. When the cook brought out the biscuits, Zig says that they were as flat as pancake – something happened to the yeast in those homemade biscuits and they never rose. Zig asked the cook, “What on earth happened to those biscuits?” He says that the cook laughed and said, “Well, let me tell you about those biscuits – they squatted to rise, but they ended up gettin’ cooked in the squat!” How many of us end up “getting cooked in the squat”? We are a half a mind to do this, or we are going to do that, but something always seems to get in the way. Do you know why? Because we let it! Whatever your goals or ideas or plans are, start today…TODAY. Even if you don’t reach the goal today, start working on it today. Do something toward your goals each day.
About now, some of you are saying, hold on a minute; don’t you want me to have any fun, any relaxation, any “down time”? You bet I do, I enjoy that relaxation time, family time, etc. just as much as the next person. Here is the secret – these tips that we are talking about – focus tips, will actually allow you to have more of that time and enjoy it more. The fact is, most of us, when we are at work, our mind is on our family and how we need to spend more time with them. When we are at home, our mind is often on our business and how we need to be doing more for our business (reading e-mails at home, etc.) So when we are at work, our mind is at home, and when we are at home our mind is at work. No wonder we don’t get anything done – we are always traveling! These tips will help us to focus on what we are doing when we are doing it. This way we can work when we are at work, play when we play, and enjoy our family when we are together. Someone has said, “Wherever you are, be all there.” Pretty good concept, I would say.
To summarize: To add hours to your day use these proven time management and focus tips:
Automobile University
The Top Five List
The Flat Biscuit Theory – do it today
Next month – three more of the best Time Management and Focus tips.
Thank you all for all that you are doing for your business, your employees, your consumers and Southeast Texas. Keep on building your “Better Business”!
P.S. BBB Team – you absolutely rock!
Photo taken by Scott Eslinger for the April issue of VIP Magazine, which features an article on BBB President/CEO John Paschall.
