Time Leadership: Creating Your Own Certainties in an Uncertain World

David Bowie wrote in his 1973 song, Time, from the Aladdin Sane album: "Time - He's waiting in the wings, He speaks of senseless things, His script is you and me, Boy". Like an elusive thief, time gets stolen from our days without us realising. Yet, we each have only 24 hours in a day. Therefore, you can only manage yourself (your choices) and the demands other people make on you (their choices) in the time available. Think time leadership rather than time management to gain more control and to react less. Here are some questions and tips to prompt your thinking and action based on three key questions.

What is your approach to time?

Attitudes to time

• Why do I want to manage my time? What do I want to achieve? What will I do with the time saved?
• Your values, experience, and preferences inform your attitude to time. Do I value being: Detailed? Systematic? Spontaneous? Last minute? In control? Laid-back?
• What are my personal and professional standards for punctuality and respect for others in meeting deadlines?
• Play to your strengths (avoid overplaying or underplaying), know whom to rely on and when.
• Past: do I focus on what has gone? Don’t dwell on what can’t be changed.
• Present: do I focus on what’s happening now? Don't miss the learning.
• Future: do I focus on what is coming? Don’t get ahead of yourself.
• Give all three attention and find the right balance for you depending on the situation.

All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.” - Eckhart Tolle        

?Where is your attention?

• Time leadership is about choices and alignment – what you choose to pay attention to in the direction of your goal.
• Is my attention scattered? Delegate.
• Is my attention captured? Step back.
• Is my attention centered? Look up.
• Is my attention open? Focus.

What do you want to change?

What are your time stealers?

• Meetings, emails, travel, the internet, interruptions, other people, the unexpected, crises/urgency, socialising, delays, overload, complexity, technology, etc. What else would I add?
• Record where your time is spent for a week. What surprises me?
• Classify where your time goes into urgent/not urgent and/or important/not important (see below)
• What works for me in tackling my time stealers? What will I do differently or better?

What is urgent/important to me and others?

• Urgent and Important (what I will turn my attention to first).
• Urgent but not Important tasks (the interruptions and distractions that are important to someone else).
• Not Urgent and Not Important tasks (the trivial timewasters).
• Not Urgent but Important tasks (where I will get the most value and address things in a measured way before they become urgent).

What can you do about it?

Control what you can

• Acknowledge and name your fears if you’re not in control: What myths do I tell myself (e.g., "Only I can do this")? What’s really true? How do I feel now? Challenge your default position.
• What do I know and not know? Redraw your boundaries, create your own certainties.
• Look at it from another viewpoint, step in someone else’s shoes.
• Is this a battle worth fighting or is my energy depleted?
• What or who is within my sphere of influence?
• Trust, partner, coach others

?Be selective/filter

• Do now?
• Do quicker?
• Delete?
• Delegate?
• Defer or delay?
• Don’t go or say ‘no’?
• Disconnect/protect my time?

Engage more widely

• Test your assumptions about how you manage yourself and the demands from others.
• Be curious, show interest in other people’s world.
• Nurture warm relationships to develop support.
• Offer help or support to relieve other’s stressful jobs.

Be assertive

• Do I say ‘yes’ to things too often? Am I lacking in confidence or insecure (passive)?
• Do I say ‘no’ to things too often? Do I show dissatisfaction implicitly (passive-aggressive) or overtly (aggressive)?
• Do I know when to say ‘yes’ and when to say ‘no’? State your needs calmly, clearly, and your reasons why AND seek to satisfy the other person’s needs (assertive)

?Dealing with overwhelm

• Is it the wider picture/situation or a specific issue/task? Get perspective.
• Rest and recharge.
• Pause and reflect.
• Reframe or revisit your purpose.

In summary, know what you want (purpose), why (meaning), and then take a step at a time (however small) towards achieving it.

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David provides career and workplace coaching to help your clarity, confidence, purpose, and decision-making. He is the author of?Learning to Leap: a guide to being more employable,?and co-author with Mark Babbitt of?21st Century Internships?(250,000+ downloads worldwide).?His commitment and energy are in promoting lifelong personal and professional development.

?www.learningtoleap.co.uk?@LearningtoLeap

Visit the?Learning to Leap blog?to read more of his work and check out his other published articles on LinkedIn:

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