Time Management Is BS

I don’t have time.

Over the years, I’ve said it so many times.

I’ve got so much on.

My diary is full, let’s catch up in a week or two.

Sorry I can’t, I’ve got back to back meetings all day.

Everyone needs something from me.

I’d be in a meeting and thinking about something from the last meeting or the next deadline for that day.

My manager wants to catch up at the worst possible time.

My team keeps pinging me for something, I’m delaying them.

A client wanted pricing back by today, I said yes.

My wife is wondering if I’m getting the groceries on my way home.

I need to pick up my kids early so they can be home at a reasonable time for dinner.

It was a blur.

I used to blink and find the week is over.

Like a deer in headlights, I’d have no idea what just happened.

Then I’d wonder - why do I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything?

It’s the same routine over and over.

“I can’t wait for the weekend” followed by “oh no, I just realised tomorrow is Monday”

“Can’t wait to go on holiday and get some time off.”

I used to repeat the conveniently available belief that…

…I need more time.

Eventually that turned into…

…I need to get better at time management.

And on some tough days I’d parrot the other common belief…

…Life is hard.

I didn’t like it at the time when a mentor pointed out to me that I’m choosing all of it.

It’s all me.

I’m in control.

I didn’t need more time, I needed discernment.

I’m choosing what appointments to accept or not, loading up my calendar that I skip lunch.

I’m choosing what time to get up in the mornings, affecting the rush of getting the kids ready and getting out the door.

I’m choosing to make commitments to others, making it hard to be present in the now.

Can you relate?

Often we shy away from responsibility, and when I heard this I rejected it immediately and blamed everyone and everything else.

Until I didn’t.

I realised I was missing some skills.

• Discernment to choose what is for me and what’s not
• Awareness of my priorities in life, family, and career so I can make better decisions that fulfil and energise me
• Communication skills to reframe, and offer others a solution that leveraged time and resources better
• Learning to let go of unhelpful common social beliefs and accepting beliefs of those with a better handle of time than me
• Learning that it’s ok to say no, it doesn't make me less valuable to my team or direct reports, in fact it preserves my energy and integrity for the things I want to do so I do them better
• Learning that maybe my desire to do more and be more for others had a deeper root cause - an internal drive unconscious to me, something I chose to believe about myself at a young age, that I could simply let go of.

Accepting responsibility comes before time management is possible.

The problem might be ‘time’ for you, it might be something else.

I have two questions for you.

1 - Where in your life are you not accepting responsibility for your results?

Maybe you’re blaming others, situations and things.

2 - How long do you want to wait before making a change to be better?

You’ll never have this day again.

Your kids will never be this age again.

When you’re 90, what advice will you give others in your place today?

I believe everyone is just a few skills away from accessing more of their human potential.

In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing a new program that helps you build skills so that you enhance your leadership effectiveness, focussed on:

Presence - tools for self awareness and emotional self regulation to help you maintain a confident presence and make better decisions

Influence - communication concepts to change how you think and communicate, and models to enhance your questioning and influencing abilities

Execution - frameworks for setting and achieving strategic objectives and goals, including tools to diagnose ‘stuck’ situations for you and the team, helping you to get moving again

If you’d like to get on the wait list and be notified of updates, comment “leadership” below or send me a DM.

Any insights gained from this post? I’d love to know what they are.

Look out for more updates soon ??