We have all heard the saying, 'Time is money?' Let me say in the beginning, It is not true.
But Japanese take this saying very seriously. In the 'Toyota Way' many kinds of wastes are recognized and waste of time is a waste taken seriously. The industrial processes are minutely inspected, understood and even a saving of 1 sec is celebrated.
While 1 sec might look small, a reduction of 1 sec. from a 10 sec. process is significant. In an industrial setting same process is repeated thousands of time and small saving of 1 sec.
accumulates to many more hours. A lot more production can happen in those hours
making more money for the organization.
Now let us apply the same sensitivity towards time in our individual life.
Our time use could be divided into 2 categories. Productive and non productive.
Productive Activities: Any activity which helps us get to our life purpose and goals will be a productive activity. The time used on these activities will be fruitful.
Unproductive Activities: A long list of activities which do not add to the output in the
direction of our life goals.
Even without getting into detailed analysis we can recognize some of the time waste in our life. Here is just a glimpse:
- Elaborate newspaper reading in the morning. Apart from the main news and articles, we get distracted by page 3 party news and other stuff which is mostly PR and propaganda for political parties, film stars and corporate giants.
- Gossiping in the train to work about celebrity affairs and bitching about others. Reading What's app jokes, forwarding them to friends. Playing video games.
- Once we reach office it takes us a lot of time to warm up for the work, to get into the mood to start working.
- Unnecessary meetings. Indecision about things also consumes a lot of unproductive time. We keep on delaying the action, get into discussions which doesn't add much to the output but a day is gone even before we realize.
How To Convert Unproductive Time Into Useful Time?
There are 2 distinctions here.
First, if we see successful people closely, their day is chockablock with productive
activities. Because they know what they want to achieve. They know what activities will help them achieve the results. So, they know what to engage in with priority, what to delegate and what should be altogether avoided.
But most people in general don't know what they want in life. Their day is like an empty box with 24 slots. They fill it with whatever comes their way.
The first step towards getting a command over our life is to know what we want to achieve. Write it down. When planning your day ask yourself, will this activity help me in achieving what I want? Fill your day with productive activities. Plan your days in advance.
Many times we do things because we can't say no to people. When they see our empty time box they try to put their plans in it. But if our box is filled with well planned out activities we can follow it with confidence.
Second distinction is being ready for unexpected. Their are situations on which we don't have any control. Like a delayed flight. Achievers don't while away time whining over it. They use it for reading important books, industry reports, or reflecting on life matters which need attention.
Here are some suggestions on increasing our productive time.
- Mark out the unproductive time. Make it a play. Catch yourself in unproductive activities and smile, "Hey there! Again you are drifting away!" The awareness itself will cut most of these activities from your life.
- Write a list of things which are important for you to do. Want to learn a foreign language? Read some books? Watch thought leader videos? Get a degree? Begin to make time for these activities in your schedule.
- Don't get overwhelmed with the enormity of your goals. Chunk down the activities and begin to do them one at a time. Like a single second matters in industrial processes, achieving these micro-goals will boost up your sense of achievement. The results will accumulate in bigger capabilities and help you achieve ambitious goals.
Like I said in the beginning, time is not money. If we put some money in a bag and open it after 2 years, it will remain the same. In fact it will get devalued in the real world.
But yes, what we do with money makes the difference. After reading this post some people will take action. They will write down a list of important things to achieve, or at least pause for a few seconds and reflect on what's important to them in life but not getting attention. They will make a mental resolve to convert that thought into reality.
Some people will go back to Facebook timeline once again. Watch photographs of people. Comment on a wardrobe malfunction during a fashion show.
What you do next, will make a difference to your life.
