More on time management

The classic model for time management plots urgency against importance. It is a good model, but I find it rather corporate, rather biased to people who are time poor, and lacking in some important dimensions.

 

The most important missing dimension is joy. Taking some things slowly can greatly enhance their joy. Knowing what these things are for you can help you experience this joy, even when you are busy. Last week I discussed some examples which work for me.

 

The second extra dimension is quality, or the value in maturation of an activity. Some things simply work better if you take them quickly, while others can generate a better outcome if they are taken slowly.

 

A bit of spontaneity adds some spice to life. We should all occasionally do impulsive things, and honing our wit is good for our brains. I am not advocating that we lose this flirtatious sparkle. What I do suggest is that we note where we habitually make mistakes through haste, and to try to avoid repeating them.

 

For me, my wit usually works well, but at times I can be cruel. So now I consciously count a bit in my head before saying derogatory things about others. I often forget, and many times still carry on doing the damage, but at least it is better than it used to be.

 

With electronic media it is easier, since a time delay is expected. Later in my career, I assiduously followed the twenty four rule when I received an e-mail that annoyed me. That saved me from many unnecessary problems, and I recommend this practice to everyone. The next day you can still reply in a bitchy or angry way and get the pleasure from it, but you will have had time to consider your response and its implications.

 

Speed usually works well with unpleasant things. It is better to face up to them than obfuscate, once it is clear that something is necessary. Deferring the dentist only adds stress and makes it worse when you finally go. A medical worry festers in the brain until courage is found to take a test. And financial obligations don’t vanish by staring at them, indeed they often get worse.

 

Another good rule is to deal with things once and finally wherever possible. At work, if you can avoid answering a question with another question, you will find you receive fewer follow up mails. Trying to get away with paying up partially still leaves the problem, and necessitates double handling.

 

But with many things, a hasty approach often jeopardises quality and stores up future stress and problems. For most of us, this includes purchasing anything beyond the most mundane articles. Think about it. It is not a coincidence that adverts emphasise time limited opportunities. It is also telling that good jurisdictions allow a cooling off period to review a hasty purchase. Think before you buy is always a good adage, in my experience. Special offers have a habit of re-emerging soon enough – Macy’s seem to have a sale almost every week, for goodness sake. By all means buy in sales, but use sales to time purchases you have already decided on, rather than getting sucked into impulse buys. Similarly, the best weapon in any negotiation is time. The one with less urgency always gets the better deal. So try to be that one as often as possible.

 

Many other things benefit from letting things mature. Investment is one. There was an article last week that said most investment funds under-perform markets because they are too active and incur more in fees than they gain in smartness. This makes sense to me.

 

If you have a problem with your boss, bad luck. I wrote about this before, and I still feel this is a critical area where advice is too limited. Many of us have bad relationships with our bosses (and our subordinates) and the fact is most of us make a bad thing worse by not being patient. Patience may enable the problem to go away, and will certainly help you devise strategies that have a chance of improving things, notably by putting yourself in the shoes of the other party. Careers in general can do with patience too.

 

I love the idea of maturing campaigns or projects. I love to be open to things, to see what comes along in life rather than trying to force issues. It works for me, at least.

 

At a higher level, one risk with new technology is hasty politics. I am all for democracy over elites, but I fear for hasty judgements and bandwagons. Just look at the talent shows on TV – the act on last seems to win far too often. When asked an opinion, people can be swayed by such trivialities. If Beppe Grillo had his way and we had online referenda on everything, I fear the unintended consequences would outweigh any benefits. Imagine the sort of justice the Boston bombers would receive. Judgement should be leisurely and considered wherever possible. Any decision made following a US news broadcast would almost certainly be ill considered.

 

So now we have four dimensions, urgency, importance, joy and quality. How on earth are we supposed to manage our time with all this complexity? Well, I think it is different if you are time poor or time rich.

 

If you are time poor, I recognise that you can’t always have the time to take in the joy and mature a judgement. But there is always something you can do. Here are some tips.

 

My favourite tip came from an old Shell boss, Paul Skinner. Fill in spaces on your agenda early for things you want to do. If you don’t, you’ll find others fill it up for you, with things you don’t want. If you are down as engaged, you will usually get to keep that time free.

 

Second, avoid running around like a fly doing more and more just because you can. You are not generally rewarded on volume of work, more on quality. Technology and your efficiency can free up time, don’t waste it with more of the same. An extreme of this are people who think their organisation cannot function without them (and take few holidays and delay retirement too). You are deluding yourself! Or maybe you are running away from something else in your life? In any case, stop. Another symptom is giving yourself deadlines all the time, which are self-imposed (even if you may say otherwise). Keep up your urgency and your energy, sure, but not by generating false pressure and robbing yourself of time and joy.

 

Third, review what you multi-task. Technology is great in the way it allows us to achieve many things at once nowadays. For arcane and necessary things, use this to its full extent. So if you have a dead hour in an airport terminal, by all means get some work done. But then don’t multi task just because you can, make conscious choices. Some joyous activities need their own focus. Some activities only yield quality with focused attention.

 

Lastly, remember your joy, rediscover what makes you joyful, and prioritise that high enough and long enough and dedicated enough, whatever happens. If this sounds selfish, remember that a joyful you is a better employee and more pleasant friend. And that service, love and family can all be joyful activities which give joy to others too.

 

If you are time rich, the first thing to do is celebrate. What a gift this is. Then you can start with the last advice for the time poor, and focus on your joy. In your case, you have even more space and opportunity to find it. Even the slowest activities (fishing? Writing?) are available to you. Be ready for where your joy takes you. The more open you are, the more you will discover.

 

Second, don’t waste time just because you have it. If there is something simple offering little joy, do it quickly and multi-task. If that creates even more free time, so much the better for the chance of joy. Similarly, stop obfuscating over things that you would be ready dealing with head on.

 

Finally, get the balance right on deadlines. Time rich people can become poor at closing things out. Make sure you set yourself some deadlines, but not too many and in the right areas, notably where you don’t sacrifice the joy or the quality, and where you need to respect others (being habitually late, for example), is pretty disrespectful of the time of others).

 

My final advice is to prepare carefully for the transition from time poor to time rich or vice versa. Especially, losing a job or retirement can be scary unless you are prepared, and most of the preparation can be done in the head. What could be nicer than preparing for joy? Or for creating dreams for a future with more free time?

 

If I work out how to put all this into a four box model, or even a sixteen box model like Myers Briggs, I’ll let you know. But don’t hold your breath, that would be a joyful activity for me, so I’ll probably take my time over it.