No matter how much we manage our time, a lot of us feel that we either are not doing enough to do the things we need to do or just don’t have enough time to do these things. This frustration often makes people feel helpless, with this feeling of helplessness of not being in control, people throw out their organizers, forget about time management and simply go with the flow. Going with the flow to a lot of people means prioritizing what is urgent, managing crises and eliminating pressing tasks as fast as possible. The problem with just simply “going with the flow” is that it focuses on the urgent but not necessarily the important. Yes, there are urgent things or tasks that require our attention but a lot of these things could have been avoided if we anticipated for it. An example would be the usual deadline set weeks, months or even years in advance of a project one has to accomplish. The usual instinct of people is to procrastinate and to only start working at the last minute. And most of the time, people come up with inferior results. Some get away with it temporarily like cramming in school but, in the final analysis, people could have gotten something better which cramming or working at the last minute can’t give. An example of a task that requires time and conscious effort is the building of fruitful relationships. Building these kinds of relationships takes a lot of time and attention. Your relationships toward your family, friends, coworkers and the significant people in your life are not something you manage but lead. As Peter Drucker best said it, “Leadership is doing the right things while management is doing things right.” Management focuses on efficiency and procedures while leadership on effectiveness and the mission. That’s exactly the essence of time “management,” you don’t manage it but LEAD it! Leadership comes first, management is second.
You first determine what’s important for you personally and manage it. By simply following this, people are better off. They become fulfilled and empowered because they are doing what’s important, what’s contributing to their individual mission in life than just simply operating in a crisis mode, facing deadlines and feeling unfulfilled despite of the many urgent thing they have accomplished.
Knowing that time management is not simply a matter of management but of leadership, I would like to share some valuable time principles which highly productive and effective people use to lead their time. By applying these timeless, tested and proven principles, I assure you that you’re positioning yourself towards greater effectiveness.
Principle 1: Identify your mission and vision in life
Mission is doing things you ought to do to live a fulfilling life while vision is the “big picture” you want to see a thousand years from now. Your mission and vision in life is not simply a corny one liner that you write and keep in your wallet but something indispensable in guiding you on making daily decisions and, ultimately, shaping your life. Unfortunately, a lot of organizations and individuals create mission and vision lines (and even pay large sums of cash for it) only to have these missions and visions written and said but never acted. That’s why it’s not such a surprise to see businesses and government sectors have fancy missions and visions but never put them into action. As the old adage best said it, “it’s easier said than done.” I repeat, your mission and vision is not something you make out of fancy words but your life’s guiding system. Both will measure whether you have lived a fulfilling life or not. Identifying your mission and vision in life is not a onetime event but something you constantly contemplate about and sharpen. It’s a continuous process, not an end. To give you an idea on how to determine your mission and vision in life, think about the following questions:
1) What and who do I value in life?
2) What can I contribute to the lives of others?
3) What makes me want to wake up early in the morning and work hard until dawn?
4) What is the meaning of life?
5) What would I like to see in my life and the lives of others 100 years from now?
By taking the time to ask these weighty questions to yourself (which a lot of people don’t because they’re busy being busy), you have an idea on what your mission and vision in life is. This is an introspective exercise where you have to look within yourself, your desires, motivations, hopes, dreams and aspirations. Being superficial doesn’t work. If you’re really serious with really living a fulfilling life, you got to have a mission and vision and that exactly entails looking at yourself and knowing what you are really truly all about. It takes self awareness!
Principle 2: Set Strategic Goals
After determining your mission and vision in life, you realize that both are too broad. Your mission and vision will only remain in the paper if you don’t take any measures to break them down into bite sized strategic objectives. Strategic objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bounded (SMART). Simply saying, strategic objectives are results you want to manifest so that when you combine these results, you get your vision and be in the position to say that you have achieved your mission. Remember, average people have dreams but people who are getting ahead in life have goals.
Principle 3: Break Strategic Goals into smaller goals, Create Action Plans and ACT!
Even though strategic goals may be smaller compared to your mission and vision, you need to break them into smaller, bite sized goals so you won’t be overwhelmed and avoid the tendency of procrastinating. After breaking them into smaller, bite sized goals, you create actions plans on how to achieve these goals and, more importantly, act on these! All the planning that you’ve done will be useless if you are not doing anything to implement your plans. Lead yourself with integrity. Walk the talk!
Principle 4: Evaluate, Take Corrective Actions and Move Forward!
Like anything else, we, human beings, can’t go on living without evaluating the way we live life. The principle of evaluating your mission, vision, plans and the way you acted on your plans is very vital because, by doing so, you’ll be able to make corrective actions and be more effective in your mission, creating your vision, formulating plans and acting on these plans. Self evaluation is very vital for continuous and spiral personal growth. By evaluating and taking corrective actions, you can move forward without having anything weigh you in the process of doing so.
It’s also important to note that when it comes to things, you manage it. While when it comes to people, you lead them. You cannot operate with people through efficiency but only through effectiveness.
Simply, to “manage time” effectively is not a matter of managing time but leading yourself. To apply the principles stated above takes a lot discipline. That is, discipline that will put you in a better position to live a fulfilling life. By applying the principles stated above, you’ll find yourself having meaningful relationships, doing purposeful activities and becoming significant towards the lives of others.
Whether we like it or not, for better or for worse, time is one of the things we deal with all the time. We can’t escape it! Knowing this, it pays to be effective when it comes to leading it. Time is like any other resource (money, human capital, ideas, machineries, natural resources). Being appointed as God’s stewards, each and one of us are called to take care of these resources and Time is not an exception. We have no right to waste these resources because all of these are just borrowed. Just like when you lent something to a friend, it makes you feel bad when that friend of yours returned what you lent broken (and even worse, not to return it at all!). That’s exactly the same with time in relation to us, stewards, and God, our Creator. And unlike other resources, Time is what I believe to be the most valuable commodity because once you lose it, you can’t take it back.
Thus, dear readers, do not manage your TIME but LEAD it not necessarily efficiently but take in consideration effectiveness. If you know how to lead your time, you come to appreciate the different resources around you and, ultimately, become the person you ought to be.
Happy Time Leading (and Managing)!
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