Time Bandits

bygjshawk

1.6K followers

5 years ago

How Valuable Is Your Time?

24 hours. That's all we get in a day. Not a minute more, not a minute less. No matter what we do or don't do, at the end of that 24-hour day it's over, gone.

Some of us look back and wonder where the day went. Why didn't we get everything done that we wanted to do?

"I need more time!" is a common lament for most of us. "Where did the day go?" is another one.

The value of time depends on the amount of "stuff" we have to get done and the time it takes to do it all. If we only need to sit on the beach and watch the water roll in and out, our time isn't precious. If we're under a deadline to accomplish a task that could mean a lot of money to us, then our time might be worth more than we want to contemplate.

Maybe we're somewhere in the middle.

How about this: The value of our time is directly proportional to the level of our stress.

Remember that old song? "If I could put time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do..." It's an oldies love song.

Well, our bottle leaks. Most of us are "leaking" time each day on things that really don't matter that much. Here are some of the time bandits that may be stealing time away.

• Checking email, over and over again. Here at WA the more followers we have and the more people we follow, the larger and larger our inbox becomes. Go to bed with 15 or 20 emails waiting, wake up to 150 to 200. Newbies say all the time that they plan to answer every single email, and that's a commendable attitude, but soon enough the task becomes too great. I'm to the point now where I look at the title, and make a decision right there to delete or keep. After I've done that to the list, I go back and open the ones I kept. If I'm still interested, I'll read and either like or comment. Comments usually get comments, so if you believe, as I do, that each comment made to you should be acknowledged with a like or a follow-up comment, you can see how time can get away from you just with email.
• Watching TV. OK, I'm guilty. The average person spends about 35 hours per week watching TV. That's like a second job! Pry yourself away from the idiot box. Yes, I"m talking to myself here.
• Idle conversation. Talking to friends and family on the phone or in person, while not really a waste of time because we're building relationships, does use up a lot of time, and quite a bit of it is useless banter. Just be aware that when the conversation deteriorates to mundane or useless topics, you could maybe use your time better.
• Not organizing yourself. The more you can prioritize your tasks and make yourself a to-do list, and follow it, the more you can get done. Remember that flexibility plays an important part too. Tweaking is a part of completing any list of tasks.
• Social media. Kyle has warned us about this one before. Personally, I'm not fond of social media. It's kind of a necessary evil for business success. Others live out their lives on Facebook and Twitter.

So, you can probably find more time in your day by watching yourself a little closer, and, as Tom Hopkins, the real estate sales guru says, "Always do what is most effective at the time." and you will accomplish more with your day.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day and feel free to add your Time Bandits to the list.

I'm Grant.