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Time Management has always been an elusive concept. For the past twelve years, it has been a classroom subject, yet I observe that few people make real improvement. While the principles of Time Management are easily understood, understanding doesn’t help. The principles only help when continuously applied in a disciplined way.
It is not the idea, but action that creates the difference.
This is not a book review, though the ideas are succinctly captured in the book, the 4-Hour Workweek. In fact, these two ideas are not new, but when applied together, create a powerful combination.
Work expands to the time allotted. If we give someone a day to accomplish something, it will take them a day to complete it. Parkinson’s Law.
Eighty percent of the results come from twenty percent of the causes. Eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of your customers. Eighty percent of your personal results come from twenty percent of your personal efforts. The Pareto Principle.
Have you ever noticed your personal productivity the day before you go on vacation. On that day, you intuitively apply these two powerful principles at the same time. Because you are working in an unreasonably short, yet unmovable time frame (Parkinson’s Law – work contracts to the time allotted), you only spend time on those tasks that truly make a difference, the twenty percent of effort that creates eighty percent of the results (Pareto Principle).
So, now, you tell me. How can you make this work for you during those work weeks when you are not leaving for vacation? -TF
Tom, to my humble point of view. Is there isn’t a real urgent reason to improve our timemanagement (as mentioned by your very good example of the vacation) we have a feeling that everything is ok, there is no need to change.
As in every course, we need to have the self discipline to start and continue (!) the change process. But as a human being I find myself often following the rule of less effort….
Time Management Quotes:
Brian Tracy: “Your greatest resource is your time.”
Samuel Smiles: “Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.”
Lee Iacocca: “If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.”
W. Edwards Deming: “The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.”
Benjamin Franklin: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.”
Peter Drucker: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
I hope you enjoyed these quotes – You can find more of my website: http://www.advancedtrainingseminars.com along with other free articles and other resources.
Sincerely,
Prof. Paul Cline