“Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn
Most of them are too polite to say it, but I would guess that the majority of leaders I’m fortunate enough to work with get sick of me talking about how they use their time. I’m constantly trying to help them see the importance of every minute of their day, and how there are too few of those minutes to be spending them doing things of little to no value.
Unfortunately for them, I’m not going to stop. There is no resource that’s more valuable to leaders than time. We never have enough of it, and if somehow someone could offer to sell you additional time you’d pay just about any price and think it money well spent.
Of course, that’s not going to happen. We’re stuck with exactly the same amount of time every day. Twenty-four hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds, and that’s it. And the number of days is limited as well. So what can we do? How can we make the best use of that time?
To start, if you’re going to try & spend as much time as possible doing things of high value, you better identify what those things might be. What are the things you do, or could do, or should do, that are extremely valuable? Are they customer things? Are they employee things? Make a list.
Now look at what you’re actually spending your time on. Are they the things on the high value list? How much time are you spending on those things? What about the things you’re doing that aren’t on the high value list? How much time are you spending on those things?
If you’re like most leaders, you’re going to be disappointed at the results, although maybe not surprised. Most leaders spend most of their time doing things that aren’t all that valuable. They’re busy being busy, but not necessarily busy being valuable.
The question, then, is how do we change that? Look at the not valuable things you’re doing now. Who else could do them? How could they be done more efficiently? Do they even need to be done at all? It’s hard to admit, but the reality is that we all spend time doing things that nobody should be doing. The world is full of leaders who should have “Professional Time Waster” printed on their business cards.
Be brutally honest and start making changes. Stop doing things that don’t matter. Give someone else the opportunity to do things that aren’t high value. You’re getting paid to be the leader. Do what you’re being paid to do.
