Many of my clients run into the “time just got away from me” syndrome. I know they hate to tell me that they did not complete a task that we agreed they need to do. As they continue their sad tale of woe and what occupied their time, I can’t help but think of the misnomers we are all under.
When we plan our day, our week or our month, we plan for activities. “It will take me thirty minutes to drive to Client ‘A’. Our meeting will take sixty minutes, thirty minutes back to the office, give me fifteen minutes ‘just in case’ …” Sound familiar?
The discrepancy with this is that when we plan our day, we plan activities and base our timetables on activities. Every activity involves either processes or other people. Therein is where the chasm will occur. People are unpredictable, and dealing with them can take a great deal of effort. Especially if their behavioral and thought process style is 180 degrees from you. [more on that in another blog entry]. Processes work well in theory. It’s in the real world that they don’t always fall seamlessly into place.
Think of your most recent meetings …. did it last as short as you wanted it to? And did you accomplish everything on the agenda, to the depth [or shallowness] that you wanted it to be? Most often your response will be ‘no’. You were dealing with people [meeting attendees] and processes [following the agenda and Robert's Rules of Order]. You can control your own actions, actions which may be based on habits. This is the part of ‘time’ that you have control over. Being aware of when, why and how you get off track. Breaking those habits. Mastering your habits … doing what is most important to you … getting a handle on time and planning your day.
“I didn’t have time to ..”.
It isn’t what they actually said, it’s what they meant to say.
