Where do you put your Time, Energy, Attention & Resources (T.E.A.R)?
Manoj Chawla
MD @ EasyPeasy Limited, Award winning Transformation & Innovation Guru, C level positions ex Accenture, BT, PWC, Diageo, ICI.
B ALANCE
The biggest thing that causes burnout is when we have too many commitments on our time and energy, and we cannot get the result we want.
Time x energy (mental, physical, emotional) = Result (Happiness)
One of the challenges we have is how to balance our time. Fundamentally there are 4 things we can
put our time and energy into.
Family relationships, romantic/partner relationships, friendship & social life, career and work, education/ personal growth, recreation, leisure, fun, spirituality, community, health and these activities can overlap,
e.g. when you do things together like going on a holiday with your family or partner.
Have you figured out where you want to invest your time in terms of Yourself, Friends, Family, Career/Job?
I would like to suggest a mental, imaginary exercise-
4 POTS AND THE WATERING CAN
Imagine you have a watering can full of water, but it can only feed 3 pots. Each pot has a plant called,
Work, Family, Yourself, Your Network.
How will you distribute the water between these 4 pots? Obviously if you don’t fill your own pot, you will be left thirsty (won’t practise self-care).
Now things change over time and sometimes you may not fill one or other of the pots but ignore any for a prolonged period and the pot in one of those pots will die.
How do you choose which plant to feed and water; which one will grow and prosper, and which ones will wither and die?
Obviously right sizing each pot is the best way to make sure that each plant can be watered the right amount without running out of “water”.
In an ideal world what proportion of time would you spend on:
You can break these 4 categories into greater granularity.
When one is young, we tend to get obsessed with our work and think that we can look after our health or relationship or wellbeing later because there will be plenty of time after we make our money or get our success. (Assumption money will buy freedom, security, power, status…)
Where you invest your time will determine your success. A car can only go so far with a flat tyre.
Systems & Priorities
Winning an Olympic medal isn't just about talent, effort, discipline but about "systems" because habits only go so far. Pilots don't just depend on training on habits but also on systems and checklists.
Success is about putting in a system and getting the balance right. Olympic athletes know that winning amedal begins with putting in a system. They schedule and plan their training and diet and do it consistently and take time to recover and make winning a medal at the Olympics their top priority.
Companies and people succeed by putting in systems, routines, and habits so that “good” is the de-
fault mode and so even if you do push yourself occasionally, recovery is faster.
Most of us are born healthy, but if we get health problems, they are often based on lifestyle choices.
Your body and mind will take a lot of punishment but once it goes wrong it will take longer and cost more to put it right.
When we are in the thick of it, we don’t notice or we ignore the little pain, the headache but over time the slow puncture in the tyre will mean that your journey will come to a full stop.
Getting the basics right in terms of sleep, exercise and diet is the foundation.
We rarely think of the lifestyle we want to live in a joined-up thinking kind of way. We kind of stumble into it and sometimes we make the wrong choices. What kind of life do you want, and do you have a plan to get there?
Make out a Time budget on how you want to spend your time?
Happiness is a journey, REMEMBER we live in the present and if we don't have a good today you will not make good decisions for a better tomorrow.