Multiplying Time

Time management is another of those topics that has bugged me for ages. I have always struggled with time. I mean on one hand I get stressed with deadlines and miss out lot of enriching experiences due to being stuck with work. On the other hand I end up just like that wasting hours and hours. So I always find the topic of the time management interesting. I have found lot of ideas interesting. But nothing has really ever worked. I don't know if it is because I have not persisted long enough or just not found the right one for me yet.

Anyways here is yet another advice I have received on time management - this time from TEDx. From Self-Discipline Strategist Rory Varden, author of Take the Stairs, a #1 Wall St Journal and #2 New York Times bestseller and  Co-Founder of Southwestern Consulting™, an 8-figure global consulting practice. I wonder though if the answer is in the 15-minute video, why would anyone buy his books or take his consulting services? Anyways here is the video for whatever it is worth.

What he says:

He starts off with the history of time management. He says original manufacturing time studies just focused on doing tasks more efficiently. That was the single dimensional approach. Then he says Steven Covey introduced prioritization. This introduced the second dimension. One could put the matrix of urgent vs importance and focus on that which is important rather than unimportant urgent things. This speaker claims he has introduced the third dimension - significance. By this he talks of trying to prioritize things that will give time dividends in the future. This he calls a multiplier. For instance taking time out today to automate a task may save time in the upcoming days.

He suggests to evaluate every task whether one of the four things can be done - eliminate, automate, delegate or postpone. If it can be postponed, it will evaluated again later. He gives an example of delegation to show how almost any task can be delegated. He apparently asked his mother that he wanted a new dad. And she asked him to find one. And it turned out that he did make a friend who eventually ended up becoming his dad. 

He concludes my quoting bible that God wanted us to multiply. So we must seek to multiply our time. 

My thoughts:

Obviously it does make sense. But it felt like a rehash of old ideas. There was overlap between significance and the old prioritization. So I am not sure if this is that much of a third dimension as such. And the concept of eliminate-automate-delegate-postpone is a lean single minute die exchange concept. So  there was nothing really radically new in this. But yes, good to keep reminding oneself to focus on these four aspects of a task. That way it can be a single one liner take away. The anecdotes were interesting and humorous and kept the viewed engaged. But there was really no wow moment.