Why Time Management is a WASTE of TIME
April 9, 2009
by Michael J. Alaniz
If I were to ask you “What is your definition of time management?” What would you say? Do you even have one? Now what if I were to tell you “Time management is a Joke!” Would you keep reading this post? Well I hope you do, because it’s going to be worth your time (yeah, that was a cheap shot J).
So with that said here is why I believe the study of time management is actually a WASTE of time. Time was never the problem to begin with. Yes, there are only so many hours in a day, but being productive is not about jamming as much as you can between sunrise to sunset. It’s all about moving yourself closer towards a worthwhile goal. Now of course it takes time to have growth, but time management is simply a by-product of focusing on priorities.
The term “time management” is deceiving because it inspires a linear way of thinking where there is point A (beginning of the day) and point B (end of the day). The game, according to time management is to somehow control what you do within each time slot as you move from point A to point B. This strategy however does not mesh well with reality. The real game of life is played in a multidimensional world where opportunities and growth are ALWAYS found outside these safe parameters we’ve set up for ourselves. Do you think Henry Ford, Thomas Edison or Warren Buffet credit their success to time management? How was it they were able to get so much done during a period of time with no cell phones, faxes or computers?
So what’s the answer? We’ll if you’ve got a few years to spare you can check google and sift through the 208 million results for the key words “time management.” How do I know this? I checked just before writing this article. What I CAN offer you however is story, but in case you’re in a rush and you can’t read the story here’s the bottom line.
Good time management is simply the result you get when you focus most of your time on your priorities. When you are consistently focusing on what’s most important you are able to ride the wave of time and make good split decisions by measuring them against your priorities.
Now here’s a story for those of you that DO have the time.
A teacher of mine once demonstrated time management with this simple experiment. She took a large glass and filled it with rocks. She then asked our economics class “Is it full?” “Yes” we replied. She then took sand and carefully poured it into the glass, it slowly filled the gaps between the rocks and she then asked “NOW…is it full?” After a moment of silence we gained our confidence and replied, “Yes!”
Only to add insult to injury she then took out a glass of water and poured it into the glass until water began to pour over the edges. We knew what was coming next…”Is it full?” she asked. No one wanted on answer, who knew what she had up her sleeve next? Already knowing we’d be hesitant to look foolish for a third time she moved on to her final question…“What did you learn?”
Personally, all I had learned was that our teacher liked to make us look foolish, but I was about to discover the secret to true time management.
Our economics teacher then said “I hope what you LEARNED is that I would NOT have any room for the big rocks if I put them in last.” Think about it. There is no room for the “big rocks” if you put them in last. These large rocks are symbolic of priorities and unless we put those FIRST each day we will find ourselves quickly overtaken by the small and insignificant things that quickly fill our day.
As you go about the rest of your day today don’t worry about managing the hour, instead manage yourself by spending most of your time on your priorities. Don’t worry what your doing hour by hour, as long you can end each day with most of your time spent on your priorities then your winning the game. Everything else will fall into place.
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Twitter Theme Song – MaxwellsHouse “Twitter Makes me Happy B&#CH
April 1, 2009
A friend of mine, great artist and style king @KOTheLEGEND http://www.justrhymes.com/kidofficial tweeted about this new “theme song for twitter”. I checked it out and it was the latest song/video from the entertaining @MaxwellsHouse. This video hits the nail on the head! Entertaining, catchy, and BUCC as they say.
Take a listen and I dare you to argue why this can’t be the Twitter Theme Song. Seriously…it’s great. Thanks MaxwellsHouse for doing this, keep it up!
Twitter makes us happy!
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