Respect your time...

Oi, oi, time for a quickie?

If you've seen my posts this week, you'll see that I've been saying the same thing, over and over.

"No one will respect your time until you do!"

Every time you accept a meeting or interruption without considering the value you are going to get from it, you're sending out a signal to others that you have unlimited time and don't really mind how you spend it.

This is usually how your calendar fills with meetings, leaving room for little else.

The Roulette Wheel of Life

I saw an insightful video from Steven Bartlett this week where he explains how he thinks of his time in terms of poker chips –?he has 24 of them each day.

Spending an hour of your day is the equivalent betting one chip on the 'Roulette Wheel of Life' –?and that includes sleep!

"How you place those chips will determine every outcome in your life –?your relationships, your mental and physical health, your professional goals, everything!"

But, while the outcome of placing a bet on a normal roulette table is entirely random, you have the ability to rig the game of life.

You can 'rig' the game!

While a normal roulette table has only three colours (red, black and green), the roulette wheel of life has five colours (green, amber, red, blue and grey) –?and each of those colours is more likely to give you different returns.

If you can learn to spot those colours and choose to place your chips on the right colours, you'll have rigged the game of life.

The colours

RED - This is productivity, 'doing stuff'. If you bet one chip on red, you're likely to get one chip back.

AMBER - This is managing risk, understanding if those around you are okay and if things are on track. Bet on amber and you're likely to get three chips back –?but you are limited to the number of chips you can bet on this colour.

GREEN - This is leading –?leading yourself or others. This is where growth comes from (your career, your relationships, your people etc.) . Bet on green and you're likely to get six chips back –?but, like amber, you are limited to the number of chips you can bet on this colour.

BLUE - This is living –?looking after your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual health. This includes sleep. Bet on blue and you're likely to get ten chips back?–?but you can only bet eight of your chips on this.

GREY - This is either stuff that you know is a waste, or you're not sure is waste. Put your chip on grey and you're guaranteed to get nothing back.

So, knowing this, how would you choose to place your chips.

Well, depending on your role (manager or non-manager, senior or junior) there's an optimal mix, but it should be clear that you want to put as many of your chips on blue, green and amber, fewer on red and absolutely none on grey.

"...put as many of your chips on blue, green and amber, fewer on red and absolutely none on grey."

And you can use the colours in your calendar to keep track.

What if you already use colour in your calendar?

A lady once said to me, "I already use colour in my calendar, I couldn't possibly change!"

When I asked for an example, she told me that she used, "yellow for client meetings", because yellow reminds her of gold, gold reminds here of money, and client meetings bring in money –?this obviously made some sense.

But when I asked if all her client meetings resulted in the money she expected, she said, "No".

And here's the problem with using colour to denote WHAT you're doing, instead of the VALUE you're getting from what you're doing.

Using the new colours, above, that lady's failed client meetings should have been GREY.

This completely changed her perspective.

Choosing the right colour

If you use Microsoft Outlook, you can install a FREE add-in that will help decide the colour for everything you put in your calendar.

Simply select 'Get Add-ins' and search for 'Diary Detox Add-in for Outlook'.

Once installed, whenever you open an appointment in your calendar, you'll see the 'Diary Detox' button in the ribbon across the top of the appointment.

By pressing that, you'll see the following panel open:

All you have to do is start at the top, and consider which option represents how the majority of that time in that appointment will be spent.

Once you reach the one that sounds right, select that one, close or save the appointment, and it will add that colour.

Do this for each item in your calendar and you'll see how you're placing your 24 chips on your Roulette Wheel of Life.

The question is, what will you learn from how you spend your time.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and how it goes so, feel free to jump into the comments.

See you next time.

Love,

Paul

Want to find out if your mangers are making time for their people?

? Why not run a one-hour Diary Detox Discovery – a highly engaging, interactive experience that will give your people new insights about where they lose time (and why) and provide some simple techniques to get time back, straightaway.

?? Learn about a Diary Detox? Discovery on the website here (see the 'Organisations' section).

Wish you had more time to lead?

??Why not learn the ten habits of the Diary Detox? method?

?? Learn about the Diary Detox? App on the website here.

Got an off-site, town-hall, team away day or conference coming up and looking for a thought-provoking and motivational interlude to an otherwise packed agenda?

?? Why not ask me to deliver a keynote that will give your audience a new way of looking at their time and some simple tools that will help them claw some back.

?? Find out more at the paulholbrook.com.