Time is the main factor that limits achievement and is utterly irreplaceable in your life. Since everything you do takes time, what you achieve and how effective you are will depend directly on how you use your time. If you do not manage your use of time, you will not be able to manage anything else effectively. Making effective use of time is a prerequisite for great achievement. If there is one characteristic common to people who have achieved excellence, it is the fact that they always made fastidious use of their time.
Stephen Hawking (born in 1942) is regarded as one of the greatest mathematical geniuses alive today. The work done by this British mathematician and astrophysicist concerns the origin and development of the cosmos. In 1988 he published a popular science book called A Brief History of Time, which described the origin of the universe and became a bestseller.
Hawking’s aim is to connect general relativity theory and quantum mechanics into a unified theory. Hawking has not allowed his severe disability to prevent him from achieving excellence in science, and his professional, but especially also his human achievements, make him an inspirational example to many people. Shortly after his twenty-first birthday Hawking was told he had an incurable disease that would probably lead to his death within a few years. This is what he wrote about himself: “Before my condition had been diagnosed, I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, I dreamt that I was going to be executed. I suddenly realised that there were a lot of worthwhile things I could do if I were reprieved. . .. In fact, although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before.”1
Seriously sick or disabled people impress us by showing how extraordinarily effective they can be by making wise use of their time. Harry Hopkins, a confidante and close advisor of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War II, is another example. Since Hopkins was gravely ill, any movement cost him tremendous effort, so he could work for only a few hours every few days. This forced him to desist from any activities that were not strictly necessary. In this way, Hopkins remained formidably effective in spite of his terrible illness, and few people achieved as much as he did during those years in Washington. Winston Churchill later admiringly called Hopkins “Lord Root-of-the-Matter.”2
If you want to work more effectively, you must start by making better use of your time. You need to realize that all other key resources can be multiplied: money can be procured, and people can be hired, but time cannot be stored or regained. Once past, it is gone. Since time is always in short supply when you wish to achieve something, many successful managers follow these steps when apportioning their time. Maybe you will find them useful, too3:
1. Find out where your time goes.
2. Eliminate things that waste your time.
3. Delegate whatever you do not need to do yourself.
4. Make sure that available time is used effectively and efficiently.
5. Bundle the time at your disposal and use it to work on key tasks.
There is only one way to find out what your time is being used for: over an unbroken four-week period meticulously write down everything you do.
Make sure you note down every activity throughout the day as you do it, rather than reconstructing your day that evening. If need be, have an assistant help you keep track of your activities. By keeping such very precise, down-to-the-minute records of all your activities, you can find out where your time really goes. Once the four weeks are up, evaluate your notes and then rethink and reapportion your time. You will often be amazed at the results.
Comb through the log book kept as part of step one above, looking for things that did not need to be done at all and were thus a waste of your time. Then ask yourself this question about all your activities: “What would happen if this was not done at all?” If the conclusion you reach is “nothing,” drop the respective activity in the future.
Like any manager, when analyzing your log book, you will find that there simply is not enough time to do everything you feel is important—to say nothing of the things you would like to do. It is only by delegating everything that can be done by somebody else that you can work on truly important things.
Most people exchange time for money. Do the opposite and exchange money for time. If you go about this cleverly, you will end up with more of both, which is precisely what very wealthy people do. If you believe you cannot afford to adopt such an approach, start off very modestly. You will find that the shrewd investment of any time you gain really does pay. Above all, it will also change the way you think, prompting you to seek opportunities for using your skills more productively.
Making better use of your time is a really crucial key to effectiveness. Make a habit of constantly improving your working methods. This is by no means an issue just for younger managers. Observe top performers in this connection, and you will see that they are very tough on themselves, constantly striving for even greater effectiveness. You will also find that many top performers behave this way, exhibiting what might almost be called a passion for self-improvement right up to the end of their lives.
Avail yourself of the literature on the subject or copy proven methods used by other managers. There is no need to reinvent the wheel; instead develop your very own personal working method. Do not let anyone tell you that there is one ideal working method that works for everyone. People who claim that this is the case simply have no idea what they are talking about. No two people work the same way!
Another aspect of this fourth step entails finding out what you can do to help your organization improve its procedures and also demanding that the people reporting to you be professional about their use of time. Professional meeting management, the use of routines, standard procedures, and checklists, well planned flows of information, and the clear assignment of responsibilities are just some examples of what can be done. Furthermore, check how you use the time of your colleagues, workers, and bosses. Ask your colleagues occasionally, “What do I do that squanders your time without helping you attain your objectives?”
When working with your boss, start out from the basic premise that one minute of his or her time requires ten minutes’ preparation on your part. If you are the boss, demand the same from your workers. If this concept is unfamiliar to you, it may sound slightly bizarre. But the true professionals among top managers work this way because they know how valuable their time is. You will not believe how quickly you will start working better and more productively if you, as an employee, prepare in this way or, as a boss, are able to devote your time to things that really matter.
To become effective at what you do, you must create the largest possible blocks of contiguous time. With such blocks of time you can then concentrate on your key tasks and work on them uninterrupted. So take the time that your records suggest is both at your disposal and under your control and bundle it into large, unbroken units. How you bundle your time in this way is not important—the main thing is that you actually do so. It is of secondary importance whether you spend one or more days working at home, concentrate all your meetings into two weekdays, or regularly set aside time during your mornings.
In addition to this, regularly adopt a long-term view, laying down key objectives two or three years in advance. That way you will be able to make fundamental changes even if your job demands a great deal of your time. Most busy managers have no real influence over their own short-term schedule.
You can learn how to make the best use of your time by constantly practicing and regularly checking that your time is wisely spent. Regard it as a playful challenge: “Practice makes perfect!” as the saying goes.
Work on your use of time. Regularly run through the five steps presented above and use them to gauge your effectiveness.
Use your time wisely.