Without pausing, as you read this, answer this question: How many hours are there in a week?
Which of the following statements is true:
- There is more than enough time to do what I choose.
- I have plenty of time for my life.
Do you remember being in high school, thinking your parents were ‘old’? Well, we’ve blown past that age now. What is most curious to me is how fast those years flew by! If you want to have some fun, set aside some time to write about your life experiences. Divide your age by 8, then jot down what you remember by each group. What will you learn? A lot.
Now is the time to apply those lessons to your business, career, and life. Positions and titles are irrelevant. Each of you has the qualities of being a servant leader, excelling in management, being innovative, influencing others, and being a good person.
We each have 168 hours each week. Both statements are true. You’ve just experienced a few flashbacks in time.
Here are some ideas of how you can spend your time:
- Help a peer at work get excited about their work
- Make it a habit to remember people’s names
- Become an intentional listener through hearing and observation
- Teach your mind always to be curious about people, things, places
- Develop and live by 90-day action plans to set your course and achieve it
Get to know yourself well through individual assessments like DISC, StrengthsFinder 2.0, VIA Character Strengths, Discover My Saboteurs, PQ Assessment, The Johari Window
With 24 hours a day at your disposal, 20% (4.8 hours) is available for your best work and life.
This is one application of the 80-20 Rule (80% of consequences come from 20% of causes), which Vilfredo Pareto developed in 1896. Stephen Covey’s Tyranny of Urgent Work focuses our attention on scheduling our priorities versus prioritizing our schedule.
Time is yours to use as you choose; you determine its value.