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“Nothing is so dear and precious as time.”
– French Proverb
I was working with a client when they pointed out that one of the changes our work had made to her working life was that it had added 30 days of ‘Strategic Rock Time’(Important/Non-Urgent Time) to her career and life.
How?
Firstly, she had clarified her top goals for the year and importantly, prioritised them.
Then based on that, she listed the top 3 areas of return for her time daily and then decided how much time she would devote to each of these, daily and weekly.
One of the areas identified was previously getting no time as it was in the ‘Someday When’ category i.e. Someday when I eventually get on top of everything, then I’ll do that… but of course that day never comes!
So she decided to spend 1 hour a day on this particular activity.
As she explained to me: ‘1 hour a day for 5 days is 5 hours a week. 5 hours a week for 48 weeks a year is 240 hours. 240 hours divided by 8 hours a day gives 30 days. We just added 30 days of real value to my life!’
Isn’t it scary and also exciting that 1 hour can add up to so much over a year. Multiply it by 10 years and you are adding almost a year to your productivity.
For my client, where previously there was no time given to a high value activity, now it’s getting 30 days focus a year – or 1/12th of the year!
Too often we can ‘keep putting off’ the high pay-off actions in our business and personal lives (i.e. the Rocks) in favour of low value actions (the pebbles and sand).
Here’s some questions to consider:
What 1 area would you like to devote 1 hour daily to?
– Your client relationships?
– Your teams’ mindset?
– That book you’ve always wanted to write? (Go on, turn off the tv….)
– Getting fit and healthy again?
– An area of your business that needs attention?
– Visualisation of your future?
Choices, choices…. and time keeps rolling on!
If you want to make a tangible jump in your productivity, my workshop ‘TimeShift – How To Boost Your Productivity, Mindset And Life’ takes place in Dublin from 15th April and runs over 3 morning in 4 weeks to help build real habits. All details here.
If you can’t make Dublin, this audio will help make an immediate impact: ’19 Habits – Productivity Strategies For The Digital Age’. Buy here.
If you’d like to hear Shane’s version of The Rocks In The Jar story, click here.
