Show me the Time!

Are you Spending or Investing your time?

No alt text provided for this image



 

 

 

 

 

 

“Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each week with $10,080, carries over no balance from week to week, allows you to keep no cash balance at the end of the week and cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the week.” Every week we begin with a credit of 10,080 minutes and every week we write-off as lost whatever amount has not been invested to good purpose.

In a previous article (Wealthy Beyond Measure) I introduced the concept of investing time with the acronym Time Invested Money Earned. The best returns are gained from investing time in Relationships, Opportunities, Innovation and Capacity.

So how do you know if you are spending or investing time? Stephen Covey introduced the Time Matrix concept as illustrated and adapted below.

No alt text provided for this image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No alt text provided for this image

In any given day, adjusting for 8 hours of sleep, you have 16 productive hours in a day or 112 hours in a week. When you spend the bulk of your time in quadrants 1, 3 and 4 the result is often high stress, blood pressure and a perpetual feeling of being in a downward reactive spiral.

In contrast the returns from investing time in Quadrant 2- (Self leadership) is greater fulfilment, empowerment, with higher levels of control and productivity. The 80/20 principle applies- by investing 20% of your time in this quadrant you will achieve 80% of the goals you commit to achieve. The outcome is greater effectiveness and creating of new possibilities to move you forward towards achieving your goals- an upward creative spiral.

20% of productive time in a week is equivalent to a minimum investment of 20 hours per week. Considering the standard work week is 40 hours the goal should be to invest a minimum of 20 hours taking charge of your destiny in the Creative (self-leadership) quadrant.

One of the best tools I have come across to track where you are spending or investing your time is a free software application called Toggl available at www.toggl.com . Toggl is developed for business use to track billable time on projects but can be adapted for personal time tracking by setting up customized project categories that you can track. Below is a link with the types of reports you can run using Toggl.


 

Are you investing enough of your time?

Show me the Time….and I will show you the money!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

What other tips can you share? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

________________________________________________


Prof, great thought provoking articles. Phil

Isaac nyonje

Sustainability, Safety, Health and Environment Manager

10 年

Very inspiring and challenging too

Kevin Kimotho

Partner | M&A Transaction Services Leader | East Africa Private Equity Leader at Deloitte

10 年

Toggl time tracking very handy

Priscilla Oyamo

Associate Consultant at Strategic Dimensions Ltd - Management & Development Consultants

10 年

The best investment! Thanks for sharing

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Andrew Musingo的更多文章

  • Dancing through the stumble ...

    Dancing through the stumble ...

    Imagine being on the dance floor in your element and you suddenly stumble… do you stop dancing or keep on dancing?…

    16 条评论
  • Dance to your own drumbeat

    Dance to your own drumbeat

    In 2004, a young Rwandan woman founded the first all women drumming ensemble in Rwanda- Ingoma Nshya (new drum). For…

    6 条评论
  • Life is a dance...

    Life is a dance...

    There are many analogies for life. One that I particularly like is Life is a dance.

    62 条评论
  • What Great Leaders Do... (5 Things Great Leaders Do Every Day)

    What Great Leaders Do... (5 Things Great Leaders Do Every Day)

    In 2005, a mentor challenged me to define my leadership model. At the beginning of every mentorship meeting his…

    21 条评论
  • Define your Mission and Pursue your Dreams...

    Define your Mission and Pursue your Dreams...

    In March 2014, an African lady reminded the world of the power of dreams. In accepting the Oscar award for Best…

    7 条评论
  • Investing in your Capacity for Leadership...

    Investing in your Capacity for Leadership...

    In July 2009, I had the opportunity of a life-time in my corporate career. I had just been appointed as Acting Managing…

    12 条评论
  • Creating Possibilities in Opportunities & Innovation

    Creating Possibilities in Opportunities & Innovation

    In March 2009, one conversation challenged me to think about new career possibilities I had never imagined. At the…

    13 条评论
  • Who is in Your Inner Circle?

    Who is in Your Inner Circle?

    Investing in the Right Relationships Imagine you are a world class athlete and are giving your winners speech at a…

    18 条评论
  • Wealthy Beyond Measure

    Wealthy Beyond Measure

    How wealthy are you? You are wealthy beyond measure! The big question is how? It is said that Time is Money…the real…

    6 条评论
  • Powerful Beyond Measure

    Powerful Beyond Measure

    What is your deepest Fear? Imagine standing on top of a cliff with a rope tied around your ankles and a countdown to…

    15 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了