Where Has Time Gone?

Article contributed by Clive Murphy.

How often have you heard yourself or someone make this statement?

Or, you may be saying “There aren’t enough hours in a day” or “I don’t have time”.

“I don’t have time to attend the school concert”. “I don’t have time to meet you after work”. “I ran out of time to call you back”. “There wasn’t enough time to finish the project”.

Nearly every excuse as to why something is not done or not done on time revolves around a lack of time.

Today, for instance, a business client said he would call into the office at 9:30am to pay his account. When we rang him at lunch time, he said “I didn’t have time” (Yes! I know, there is probably more to this than time!). A lady who said she would call in to pick up a report at 2:30pm, hasn’t come for the third time. The other two excuses were “I ran out of time”.

Time is a commodity that, for many – especially if they are in business – appears to be hard to find.

Are you time deficit?

Are you always running late?

Are missing appointments?

Are you failing to ring people back?

Are you using lack of time as an excuse?

If you are, you are not alone. It appears more and more people are cramming so much into their day that they are running out of time.

In fact, research backs this up. In his book, “Buy*ology”, Martin Lindstrom says:

“A 2007 analysis of pedestrians in 34 cities around the world showed that the average pedestrian clips along at almost 3.5mph (5.6kph) – roughly 10% faster than they did a decade ago.”

Also, In Denmark, research shows men and women talk 20 times faster than they did 10 years ago.

A business client told me that 72% of people were late to see him for their first appointment with 7% being more than 20 minutes late.

With the advent of the computer (which was meant to save us time), we have found more things to do. I’m writing more books, more e-books, more articles and preparing more courses than ever before.

Then, there are my emails. I receive around 38 a day that need my attention. I subscribe to nine people who send me stuff nearly every day. While the content is great, it takes me an hour and a half to go through it all.

I recently went close to a blow-up as I got so far behind in the things I had to do. It was time for a change – and a major one.

Here is my solution:

(i) With my emails, I now have Julie go through them and delete what’s not crucial for me to see. If it is crucial, she passes it on.

(ii) I have remained subscribed to those people who I feel give me great value.

(iii) I have set times to read my emails.

If you are working on a project and you hear the “click” as an email enters your In Box, you most likely will open it to see who it is and what they have to say (we hate not knowing!). You will then want to send it on to all your friends.

The problem is, research shows it takes around 20 minutes from the time you finish reading the email for you to return to your productive state.

Think of how much time you lose each time you go to your “In Box”!

(iv) I now set aside 2 hours of uninterrupted time to work on a project. I can then give the project my total attention. My emails are turned off for that time.

The problem with multi-tasking (trying to do lots of things at the same time) is you are wasting much time, which can lead to you being very unproductive. Most of what you start fails to get finished, or, if it does, it is not up to standard because your brain is concentrating on too many things. In a video I recently viewed, it stated that multi-tasking lowers your IQ!

(v) I use my diary wisely. I allow ½ hour between appointments or coaching sessions so I’m not rushing.

Everything I have planned gets put into the diary.

I make time for “me” to relax, read and to exercise. If it is important to me and my family, I lock it in the diary.

(vi) I am now aware of how time can control me. I walk slower; I am 10 minutes early for appointments; I ensure I follow up on missed calls and I take the time to “smell the roses”.

Does “time” control you?

A lack of time to do required work places a person under an enormous pressure. Pressure leads to stress. Stress left un-dealt with often leads to ill-health.

Put time into perspective. If you are a person who is always late or is time deficit, work on a solution or seek some help.