Other parts of the miniseries:
Winning the war for time–Part 1
Winning the war for time–Part 3
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 37 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Winning the war for time–Part 2
— From Learning to Lead: Bringing Out the Best in People by Fred Smith (1915-2007)
In yesterday’s post, we learned the importance of having clarity on our philosophy on time: Fred Smith, leadership guru, taught us some powerful questions to ask ourselves in his book Learning to Lead to determine why we want to get more out of time.
Today, we’ll see why Smith questions the idea of spending time and, instead, prefers to see time as an investment.
He says, “There are two ways to approach time. One is technological: minutes as units. The other is the philosophical: minutes as meaning. […] Too often people don’t know the difference between a fast track and a frantic track.” Smith enjoys a fast-track life, but he doesn’t relish being frantic. That’s an incredibly important distinction.
“It’s just as foolish to use every minute for activity as it is to spend every nickel you’ve got.”
The author goes on to say, “Some people think they have to spend time, use it up one way or another—while others invest it.” His philosophy is to invest it, which means looking for a return on what he does. “Some of that return will be in dollars or other visible achievement, but some will be more internal. Investing time wisely does something for you. Over a period of time it brings an appreciation, a patina to life; it generates maturity and fullness.”
A key thing to consider, as Smith points out, is that “Opportunity is not a mandate to do. Your mandate comes from what you have chosen to try to accomplish.” And he illustrates this by saying, “If a farmer has a bushel of corn and several different fields in which to plant it, he will pick the most fertile field.”
This is a great concept to keep in mind nowadays, when we all live with FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out, and thus try to do too much as we don’t want to miss any opportunities.
Another important point that Smith makes is that of earning respect for our time.
Just as we respect and value other people’s time and effort, we should expect and demand that people respect ours the same way.
People respect us when we address their problems quickly. “There’s something professional about that,” writes the author. “If through reading as well as living we have developed the intuition, knowledge and experience to be helpful to others, and if we have the courage to go right at the issue and not be afraid of conflict, people will see we mean business with our time.”
In practical terms, the best way to do this is to “train people to think in terms of schedule” by saying things that will signal such respect for our time and that of others.
For instance, “You can set definite times for meetings. Even if the calendar is open, you don’t say, ‘Well, come any time Tuesday.’ Instead you say, ‘I’ll be glad to see you. How long do you think you’ll need?’ or ‘How long will it take us to accomplish what you’ve got in mind?’”
Also, Smith says, “You can telegraph your view of time by cutting the conversation off promptly at the end. ‘Is there anything else that we should talk about, or are we finished?’ This establishes the reason why we’re talking: to accomplish something.”
I like Smith’s approach to time because I think it’s sensible and practical. Come back tomorrow for another installment of this miniseries. Smith will be guiding us through personal habits to avoid wasting time, among other topics.
ACTION
TODAY: Think of times when you have spent more time than you wanted in a meeting or a project. What is the common denominator among all those times? How do you give people access to your time? How can you change that access? Work on the language you use with yourself and with others to think in terms of schedule.
FUTURE: Once you’ve figured out how to improve the ways in which you handle your time with others, begin to test. Slowly but surely, you’ll be getting used to the language that works best in each occasion, to the point where you won’t make the mistakes of the past again. Test and rehearse many times until it all comes naturally.
Know someone who is always battling time? Please share this post with that person. Thank you! Email, Facebook or Twitter.