Examine Your Investment Statement

If time is an even more valuable resource than money, your calendar is your investment statement reflecting the way you use it. What does your calendar reveal about your investment decisions?

Take out your calendar and really look at it. Ask yourself:

·      Is there time devoted to working on achieving my goals?

·      Is there time for me to complete my project work?

·      How many hours a day am I in meetings?

·      Do I have time allocated to coach my direct reports?

·      Is every minute of the day scheduled, or do I have buffer or open time?

·      Is there time for me to read and respond to emails? To return phone calls?

·      Is there time for me to think and reflect?

·      Do I have time to plan and prepare for meetings?

·      Do I have time to plan and prepare for the next day, week, and month?

·      How much time do I spend commuting to and from work?

·      Are there personal events on my calendar – exercise, dinner with friends, my child’s baseball game, or quiet, reflective time?

When we looked at Rachel’s calendar after discussing how she was giving away her time, it became very apparent to her exactly when, where, and how she gave away her time each and every day. She automatically accepted meeting requests without reviewing the agenda to determine whether the meeting was pertinent to her actual work and whether she was needed to make a decision or contribute to the conversation. She consistently took calls, stop-ins, and meetings during time she had blocked on her calendar to complete work, and there was absolutely no Rachel time anywhere on the calendar.

“If this was my 401k statement I was looking at,” Rachel remarked with a rueful smile, “I’d probably consider firing my investment advisor--the returns are so poor.”

“You’re right, Rachel,” I said. “You can tell what a person really values by looking at their checkbook and their calendar--how they spend their time and money. And looking at your calendar tells me that Rachel comes at the bottom of your priority list.”

Prior to our first session, I had asked Rachel to review her individual development plan, which included her professional goals and objectives for the year. As we reviewed those goals next to her calendar, Rachel started shifting uneasily in her seat. The reason was obvious: there was no connection between her goals and how she was investing her time. Zero! If Rachel had not been sitting there, I would have assumed that I was looking at another person’s calendar. Rachel’s time spend and her goals were so clearly out of alignment that it was no wonder she was receiving negative feedback about her performance!

Fortunately, Rachel wasn’t trapped in this negative space. Raising her awareness around her actual time spend gave her the information she needed to make significant changes—which she did.

Examine your investment statement. How have you chosen to invest your time? Where have you said yes when you really wanted to say no? Is there time on your calendar for achieving your goals? Are you reacting or responding?

Jeff Weiner, CEO of the professional social media site LinkedIn, is acutely aware of the need to control his calendar. He describes his approach this way:

“Often times people just get caught up in the day to day flow and if challenges are coming at them fast and furious there is going to be a natural tendency to solve one problem after another. It is important to take some time to carve out time to think as opposed to constantly reacting. During your thinking time, not only are you thinking strategically, proactively and longer term, but you are literally thinking about what is urgent versus important and trying to strike the right balance.”

Let’s re-imagine your time spend to ensure that you are striking the right balance in order to receive the highest return on your investment.

Carson Tate is the author of Work Simply, published by Penguin/Portfolio in 2015. "Work Simply is not only rich with solid, practical, grounded advice about reclaiming your time, it’s infused with heart, warmth, and humanity to boot," says New York Times best-selling author Sonia Choquette. 

Follow Carson on Twitter: @thecarsontate