Saving it

There never seems to be enough of it and once it's gone past us we can never regain it which, in my mind, should make each and every one of us want to make the most of it when we have the chance. I refer, of course, to time.

I recently had the chance to adjust someone's attitude and path in respect of a few things that were affecting the individual's performance and progression professionally. In speaking with the person I realised that time management was most of the problem so I went through some methods that would help get that person back on the right path. Here's some of what we spoke about and a few things I did not mention but think are important to consider. These are mostly work-related things but I believe much can be utilised in one's personal life also.

• Do what you love: This isn't always possible personally or professionally because we all have to do things we don't enjoy or would prefer not to do, however through loving what we do we become better at it, more eager and efficient, and that can save time. Often, and I'm just speaking personally here, whether we like or don't like something is an attitude and mindset thing and shifting one's paradigm can have positive effects; not always easy to do, but always valuable.

• Avoid negative people: This ties in with doing what we love or like and is, in my opinion, critical in personal and professional life. Negative people are a drain on emotions and that wastes time and precious energy. *If a person is negative remove them like the toxic cancer they are and if you cannot remove them completely then don't go as often and don't stay as long.

• Plan, have task-lists and schedules: This is where so many go wrong; it's not that they don't have these, they just tend not to follow them which makes having them a waste of time. I like to plan block out time which means I put aside all distractions (including emails and phone calls) to focus on one particular thing but there's other methods. People disturb me at their peril in these moments...OK, not really, but they know to leave me alone until I break out. Lists make a person seem and feel productive because task-lists make a person more producive.

• Focus on productive things: If something won't help you achieve your goal then don't do it. Dollar-productive activities and actions that will move you closer to the goal are better ways to spend time than on busy work that feels nicer to do; setting deadlines for actionable tasks that move one closer to the result is a good way to stay focused also. Remove distractions, they are unproductive when one is seeking optimal performance, and focus, don't multitask or you'll split your attention and energy.

• Move big rocks: Leaving the hated tasks or actions for later isn't productive because they loom over you the entire time. Move them first, tackle the difficult things be it a phone call, email, general problem, difficult conversation or anything else...getting it out the way early in the day or week will make the rest of it more productive through a better mindset, sense of achievement and simply because everything else is easier in comparison; there's no perfect time to do the hard things, (or anything really), the right time is now.

• Delegate: This may not be possible for everyone depending on role or position but for leaders with teams it's a critical aspect. Learning how to delegate effectively and efficiently (and how to let go of tasks for others to do) is a great way to create time in one's day and also is an awesome team-building process that pays dividends down the track through empowerment.

• Avoidance: No, I don't mean avoid your responsibilities, but if it's non-essential then avoid it. This could be meetings, phone calls, emails, unnecessary walking within the walk environment and other such time-wasting endeavours. If it's avoidable then avoid it. This doesn't relate to shirking one's responsibilities though, that's a big step towards failure.

• Ownership, discipline and responsibility: This should be everyone's catchphrase for life, but it is not unfortunately. Efficient and high-achieving people will have it though and will make sure they apply it to everything they do professionally and personally. If one adds in passion then one has a fairly powerful set of guidelines, a solid platform from which to launch.

• Delete social media: This is one of life's most wasteful endeavours. Enough said on this one.

Finding time for everything in life can be difficult whether personal or professional but through analysing where time is spent and working towards removing inefficiencies one can find a great amount of time and that can mean better productivity and results at work, relationships and in one's life generally. Time only comes around once so it makes sense to make the most of it.