Links to other parts of this miniseries:
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 2
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 3
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 4
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 5
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 6
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 44 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 1
— From Learning to Lead: Bringing Out the Best in People by Fred Smith (1915-2007)
How do you spend time? “Most people spend time like they do money,” says leadership guru Fred Smith in his book Learning to Lead. “They spend until suddenly they run short; then they seek a way to compensate.”
Most books and philosophies teach a disciplined approach to time and money as the best path to prevent either one from slipping away. Yet sometimes life happens and we find ourselves in a crunch trying to find time desperately to complete whatever project we’ve (over)committed to… In Smith’s experience, when he asks his worn-out coachees how much time it would take for them to catch up they say, “If I only had five more hours a week!”
What to do?!
Smith put together a checklist to conduct an emergency plan “as a way to pick up five [or more] hours from any week you choose. It provides immediate and effective relief for those who are swamped.” However, he warns, “This is for emergency use only. As in dieting or spending money, the long-range answer is a better lifestyle that doesn’t require temporary bailouts.” He goes on to say that “this is a battle plan, not a war plan. You shouldn’t continue this emergency plan for longer than, say, four to six weeks.”
Smith suggests announcing our emergency plan to the people around us with a statement of this sort: “Folks, you are not going to see as much of me for the next six weeks as you have. I’ve gotten behind in some very important things I should be doing, because I’ve been doing other things that were needful. I’m going to need your understanding for the next month while I catch up.”
You can also announce it to the world via email with an autoresponder, just as Greg McKeown did when he went into monk mode to write his wonderful book Essentialism: “Dear Friends, I am currently working on a new book which has put enormous burdens on my time. Unfortunately, I am unable to respond in the manner I would like. For this, I apologize.”
People are generally understanding and cooperative. Just make sure that you are indeed working on what you need to accomplish, as opposed to playing golf for hours on end. Smith says, “When you declare an emergency, it’s got to be legitimate.”
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn
Come back tomorrow, as we’ll get started with Smith’s 20-point checklist for finding a minimum of 5 extra hours per week.
ACTION
TODAY: Are you in a time crunch and could use a period of four to six weeks to catch up? If so, block off the time in your calendar so that, as of tomorrow, you will start implementing the techniques that Fred Smith shares in his checklist to put in place an emergency plan.
FUTURE: As you go through the next six weeks implementing the points we are going to see in this miniseries, jot down the lessons learned as you come across them. You will find many ways to improve your time management and effectiveness so that you don’t fall into emergency mode again.
Know someone who could use an additional 5 hours per week to catch up? Please share this post. Email, Facebook or Twitter.