Every sentient being has a “bank” account that is initially opened with the maximum value it will ever contain. This is also the case for businesses, organizations and enterprises of all definitions.
The account is a time bank. You and I have a time bank that was opened and loaded to its maximum balance the moment we were born. We have no way available to us to determine the exact value of the account when it is opened, but we can be certain that it is not an infinite amount.
It is impossible to make additional deposits into this account once it is opened. The only option for making it last as long as possible is to practice ways to save and conserve that balance by finding efficiencies and avoiding waste every day. And of course, any withdrawal we make can never be replenished or replaced.
Imagine if we decide to apply time saving practice to our daily life consciously. How would we go about it? Would we begin our day by making a list of what we want, need, have to do? And then, would we thoughtfully rearrange the list to minimize the amount of time it will require to complete it to our satisfaction? If we don’t do that or something like it, it is guaranteed we will leak time all day long. Remember, once we spend time, it is forever gone.
When we are faced with an important decision that impacts or financial position and condition, think about how diligent we can suddenly become. We might look at our impending decision from every angle we can think of. We are not going to make the spend until we are satisfied that the potential value returned is equal to or greater than the cost. Can you imagine applying this same diligence to a decision where the currency is withdrawn from your time bank? Would you ask, “How much time is this likely to take? How much time am I willing to spend? Will the result of spending that time be to reduce the time cost it would normally take to accomplish the desired outcome? Or is it a “luxury” spend? It’s also important to make that kind of “purchase” to make life more interesting.
Would you consider keeping a personal time log throughout the day to record precisely where your time is actually spent? At the end of the day, you can invest another brief period of time reading over your time journal to see where you dropped some that did not need to be given up. That would help with the next day’s time budget plan.
Consider treating your time as a budget item. Put planned limits on the amount of time you are willing to spend for every task. Make a list of daily “must do” events, and place them in the most efficient time slot. Make another list of “want to do” and insert those events into the most ideal remaining slots. Allocate as best you can the amount of time for each event on the list. Use values in increments of minutes or hours, not specific time of day. Then, drop each of those events into your daily calendar. That will reveal how your day will flow if you are able to stick to the plan as closely as possible. And it will also reveal what time you need to rise in the morning and what time you will be able to retire at night. You may be surprised at the outcome of that exercise.
The most difficult to manage events will probably involve interactions with people, including both phone time and face time. They can turn out to be longer or shorter than intended, unless you can totally control the time requirement.
If you decide to study your personal time “balance sheet”, it will require a lot of discipline at first because we are all inclined to think we are managing our day well, when actually if we had a log to look back on we would probably realize we waste a significant part of our days without being aware of it.
Sometimes going with the flow lulls us into an unconscious state of being. We can too easily fall victim to spending all day reacting instead of acting.
Ask yourself, “Do I own and control my time, or have I surrendered it to everyone but me?”
