Make Time Your Friend

“Time management” has been one of the many issues executives have asked us to support them with over the years.  And for a long time we did our best to bring all the best “time management” practices we could to our clients.  We got to know all the great systems – Franklin-Covey, Daytimer, etc.  These systems were very well “thought out” and quite frankly for many years they seemed to work very well for those who employed them.  Then, about 8 years ago we started to find that executives started experiencing greater challenges trying to “manage their time.”  Specifically, they were finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a focus on forwarding what was most important to them and their organizations as well as finding time for other areas important in their lives. More over – with all their promise – the traditional time management systems seemed to be letting them down and in many cases seemed to be adding to the stress of trying to get things done.   We began to look at what was driving this shift and determined that the primary reasons for this deterioration comes from three related shifts in business.

1. An increasing expectation for faster delivery on promises from our clients, peers and those who manage us.
2. The increase in information available to us along with the evolution in technology that allows for instant communication and constant availability.
3. The corresponding increase in the pace of change in the business environment.

These shifts have generated a lot more stress in how we manage ourselves and have overwhelmed the traditional systems we used to manage time.  In essence, many business people have become slaves of time rather than masters of getting what is most important done.

In our view, part of the problem that we are facing with “time management” has actually been generated by the very systems we have used over the years to try to organize our time.  In essence, these traditional time management systems have created an illusion that we can actually control our time and the future.  Yet, in actuality all we can really control is our focus, orientation and choices – IN THE MOMENT.

This is not to say we don’t have to deal with the timing of events and actions – of course we do.  Planning and scheduling are both essential to forwarding our most important commitments to clients, our bosses, peers, direct reports and other key stakeholders.  Yet, as we have come to experience, managing our actions and accomplishing our priorities does not always go according to our plans.  How many times have you walked in the door with a plan for the day only to have it blown to smithereens by some critical series of events or emergencies?  All those to dos that were scheduled are deferred and our task lists just seem to grow.

So what’s the solution?  In short, let go of the illusion you can manage your time and create a system that allows you to manage your focus so you can make the right choices moment to moment.  To make this happen requires three initial steps:

1. Taking the time to create crystal clarity around one’s purpose and vision.
2. Making sure our key strategies, intentions and actions are aligned with purpose and vision.
3. Building a system that allows us to get our arms around everything that is currently on our plate so that you can quickly determine how to use the time you have NOW.

In other words, we need to think differently about how we organize ourselves.  For the most part, the traditional time management systems we have used were built on a magnificent analyzation of structuring our minutes with little consideration for the unexpected.  They also did not take into account how the human brain organizes and holds onto information.   This is precisely what David Allen took the time to do when he designed his revolutionary “Getting Things Done” (GTD) process.

David’s GTD process takes into consideration some primary understandings of how the brain organizes and stores information.  For example, David states: “there is only so much psychic ram in the brain.”  Given this the more we try to hold up there the more stress we create.  This is a difficult habit for most fast moving executive’s to get – the fact that the brain is not the ideal place to store everything!  It is not an effective storage device – not at today’s pace anyway.  For example, Allen discovered that if the mind is considering one thing it has to accomplish by tomorrow and another that needs to be accomplished a year from now – the brain will hold them with the same level of urgency – thus creating unnecessary stress. On top of this, the “time management” systems we deployed to support us were insufficient in helping us sharpen our focus in a fast paced environment.

The foundation of his process can be gleaned from the following quotes from his book “Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress Free Productivity”:

• “Have a mind like water – one that responds perfectly to what is right in front of it.”
• “The whole point – down load your brain into a system that works and is “leak proof” – a system you trust!”
• “The biggest leak in the mind – having to think about something more than once – generate a system you can externalize the thought to – giving you ready access to it when you need it again!”

When we are able to gain clarity around what is most important and have an organizational system we can trust we become more present and are able to make better decisions about what to do NOW.  Ultimately that’s all we have  – this very moment to make an impact.  Each moment builds a kind of momentum towards our vision when each is used well.  To prepare for future moments requires that we create a system that allows us to let go, be present, sharpen our focus and take actions now that move us towards what is most important us and our organizations.

So stop trying to manage your time – get focused on those things that are most important for you and build a structure that supports you in fulfilling them.

Resources (follow links provided):
David Allen, Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress Free Productivity, Penguin Group, New York, NY, 2001. (order directly from our website)

David Allen’s Website

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Executive Engagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.