Time is the Enemy

If you’re anything like me then one battle you have always fought and will fight for a long time to come is the battle with time.

I never get to the end of my list of things that need doing – there simply isn’t enough time to get everything done. This applies equally to my business and personal life. And there’s nothing wrong with that. If you run out of things to do then you’re not pushing yourself hard enough!

Time is the one thing that none of us can secure more of. We can’t buy it, we can’t make it, and we can’t beg, borrow or steal it. The 24hrs a day we have is it, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

We can however choose how we use the time we have. I believe we are obligated to use our time effectively and efficiently. In this piece I want to touch on being effective, that is using our time to do the right things, the things which matter to us as individuals.

But how do we work out what those right (important) things are? A good place to start is to build a list of “roles” which you fulfil in your personal and business life.

These will be things like:

Remember to maintain a balance between personal and business roles.

Then for each role ask yourself the question “what is the one thing that if I did well and consistently, that I’m not doing at the moment, would make the biggest difference?”

Use the answer to this question to set a single SMART goal for each role.

S pecific             M easurable             A ttainable              R ealistic             T imeframed

Document these goals and hold yourself accountable – you’ll be surprised just how much of impact this will have but ONLY if you hold yourself to account.