Time Management is a Myth

Are you living your dreams? Are you accomplishing everything you hope to in a given day? Or, like many of us, are you burned out and overwhelmed with everything you have “to do” in your life?

For those that know me, I am often referred to as the “king” of productivity. For example, I work two jobs, attend graduate school full-time—maintaining a 4.0 GPA, I might add—and raise a family of five. I also have three dogs and one very cranky cat. I do all of this while slowly building my various websites. I also read at least three new books cover-to-cover each month, and I write… a lot.

Now, I don’t tell you all of that to brag or impress you. All of that and $4.95 gets me a latte at Starbucks, if you know what I mean, so big whoop-dee doo. I bring it up, however, to make a point. I am often asked how in the world I can accomplish so much. While I often joke that it’s because I don’t know what the inside of my eyelids look like any more, the reality is that it all comes down to one simple word.

Before we get to that word, I want you to do a little experiment. First, I want to you to sit back, close your eyes, and think about all the things you have to get done. Think about everything you have to accomplish in order for you to feel successful. Ugh, right? What’s interesting is that the stress you feel right now is all because you think that you can manage your time and, unfortunately for you, you don’t have enough of it. Think about that. It’s all about your perception regarding time.

Here’s the bad news. Time management, my friends, is a myth. We all only have 24 hours in a day. There is not, nor has there ever been, a single person who could “manage” five minutes and get back six. Or “manage” thirty minutes and magically all of a sudden find an extra hour. It just doesn’t work that way. The good news is, there is something that you can manage that will allow you to accomplish more than you ever thought possible.

The first step is to gather up all of your “stuff”. Stuff is defined as basically anything you have on your mind that you need to get done. Gather it all in one place, a bucket, if you will. As my mentor taught me, “If it is on your mind, your mind isn’t clear.” Next, you have to analyze each piece of “stuff” and clarify what, if anything, you need to do to make progress. What is your goal with it, or your “intended successful outcome”, as they say. The last step is that one simple word I referred to earlier.

After you have all your “stuff” collected and organized into a system, and you have clarified what it is you’re trying to accomplish, it comes down to one simple question: What is the very next physical action required? Perhaps it’s making a phone call or replying to an email. Or maybe researching a particular keyword. Or sitting down for the next 15 minutes and writing your next blog post. It could be anything, as long as it is an actual physical act.

So, what’s the magic word? Action. Just good old fashioned doing. Once I’ve gone through the above process, I make it a point to schedule time for every action, and then during that time that action is all I think about. I don’t worry or think about anything else because I know subconsciously that it all has been allotted its own place on my schedule; I will get to it eventually.

Remember, you cannot “do” anything. You can only do an action related to that thing. Therefore, the key to managing all of your “stuff” is very simple: manage your actions.

For more detailed information on how I accomplish so much, check out David Allen’s phenomenal work, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It’s dirt cheap at Amazon, and you can even find a ton of videos on YouTube that outline the process. Feel free to post a comment below and share your experiences on productivity with the WA community.