The Strengthspath Time Manager

Time is an unstoppable flowing sequence of events. I tend to think of those events as different size boxes or nesting containers. Probably not as exciting as Einstein’s imagining himself riding on a beam of light, but that’s how I see it. Time really is a series of gifts. You can decide how to wrap the boxes, although some seem to come pre-wrapped. You can re-wrap them. And you can fill them.

You get to fill those time boxes with activities, energy and effort. You can fill them with purpose, accomplishment, contribution, service, fun, adrenaline, wonderful people and places. You can unpack them and repack them in your imagination before the box actually shows up.

You can pack them tightly. You can pack them with plenty of space. You can leave some of your boxes empty. You can pack them as they come.

This book is written to help you maximize your time or pack your boxes. In that sense it’s not unique. A quick visit to your local bookstore or Amazon will quickly confirm that. There are hundreds of books available on time management from at least a dozen perspectives. I believe this is a fresh new perspective. It is also a perspective that should enhance, not replace all the others.

So you understand what I mean by perspective, let me give you some examples:

The Hebrew Day Planner – If you take the Jewish-Christian Scriptures seriously as I do, the idea of time management is really as old as the first chapter of Genesis itself. As we walk through that first page, we get the idea that God Himself planned His work and worked His plan. He set up efficient systems that reach into every corner of the universe including the intricate workings of the human body. In one sense, automation was first introduced in the book of Genesis. We get the foundation for many time management concepts we work with right here at the beginning of time. And really, time management gems can be gleaned from nearly every book of the Bible, even though it was written over a 1500-year period.

Classic Greek Time Management – Socrates said, “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” I guess that sums up the reason for reading a few time management books. Aristotle and Plato also had ideas with great application to time management today.

Servant Time Management - Broadly speaking this is really “Virtue Oriented” time management. It places service and love as the central virtue at the heart of your time and is largely based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Modern day management guru Tom Peters affirms this when he writes, “Organizations exist to serve, period!”

Printed Schedule Time Management - This was introduced with the publication of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin in the late 1700’s. Ben identified a routine that worked for him and committed it to paper. John Letts began publishing diaries in the 1800’s which proved to be a forerunner to most of what you see at the office supply store today.

Efficiency Oriented Time Management - This was popular during the early 1900’s. In the Industrial Economy much emphasis was placed on performing routine tasks in the most efficient manner. Frederick Taylor was arguably one of the first to work in the new profession of management consulting. He took our nation and much of the world down a path of time-motion efficiency studies, concluding there existed a "One Best Way" to do everything. For example, his study concluded that the optimal shovel load was a consistent 21.5 pounds. Companies that drank his Kool-Aid modified their issued shovels to accommodate this finding. This made some sense for factory work or any job that involved repetitive tasks.

Efficiency = Task Optimization = Finding and Refining the Right Process.

Technology Oriented Time Management - I guess this one goes back to the discovery of how to make fire and the first wheel. But it really began to multiply in the 1900’s. The time management implications of the automobile, the personal computer and the cell phone, to name a few, is staggering. If we were still on typewriters, I wouldn’t be writing this. I make too many errors and I need a backspace button. I still remember my early days as a sales rep searching for a phone booth to get my messages.

Effectiveness Oriented Time Management – Peter Drucker began introducing an “Effectiveness” philosophy of time with his writings in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s. As knowledge work increased, the role of professional manager evolved into a more prominent place in the work picture, and people were routinely required to make choices between tasks. Should I work on this item or that one? While efficient time management meant doing things right, effectiveness meant doing the best task among many choices.

Goal Oriented Time Management - Many of the classic books on time management fall into this category. How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein may be the quintessential resource in this group. I love this book. And it should be argued that without goals, time management is pointless.

IV Quadrant Priority Oriented Time Management – First introduced by President Dwight Eisenhower, Stephen Covey did a great job of explaining this one. He divided activities into Quadrants I, II, III and IV including Important, Not Important, Urgent, and Not Urgent. Covey introduced the concept in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Then he devoted an entire book to it in First Things First, which he co-authored with A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill. Everyone should devour these ideas.

80/20 Time Management - Richard Koch has nailed this one very thoroughly. The work titled The 80/20 Principle is just one of his books applying Pareto’s famous law to time management. The theory shares how 80% of the results come from 20% of our efforts.

Time Traps - This concept has been thoroughly covered by Alec Mackenzie, including his research on the top twenty time wasters. The first few include management by crisis, telephone interruptions, inadequate planning, attempting too much, drop-in visitors, etc….

Organizational Time Management - Stephanie Winston’s Getting Organized has popularized this one. Another book I like is Order from Chaos by Liz Davenport. After having said that, David Freedman and Eric Abrahamson have done a great job making a case that order is often not that critical. In their book, The Perfect Mess, they provide many examples of successful people thriving in chaos.

Four-Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss’ book has introduced some controversy into the time management mix with other experts weighing in on the viability of his ideas. But Ferriss researches thoroughly and has done everything he advocates. His biggest contributions include ways the small business entrepreneur can utilize automation and technology.

Best Time, Time Management - This moves into some of the more obscure categories. As far as I can see, Mark Di Vincenzo’s book, Buy Ketchup In May And Fly At Noon introduces this very well. It offers a lot of ideas like “best time to make a presentation”, “best day to interview for a job”, and “best month to buy a computer”. This may sound superfluous but there really are some good tips in this book.

Margin - Richard A. Swenson, M.D. helps with some of our tendencies to take on too much, causing overload resulting in inefficiencies. Swenson offers some great help and ideas. Many time management programs assume we should all be adding more to our plate or getting more done. Sometimes less is more.