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THE THIEF OF TIME

Are you in control of time or is time in control of you? I think we all know how most people would answer that!
Time will control us if we let it.

I heard a statistic once, which astonished me at the time. Having become more aware of it, though, I now realise it is probably about right.

60-70% of the time issues we have are down to the thief of time - procrastination - putting off till later what we could or should be doing now.

This is different to prioritising, where you are making good decisions about doing one task before another. No - the thief of time is making bad decisions.

Do you have piles? Well, the piles I'm talking about are the ones on the corner of your desk and beside the microwave at home. The 'later' piles.

We all know how it works. You sit down in the morning, open your post, read something that needs action and say to yourself: "Mmm, that looks interesting. I'll deal with it later" - and then put it on the 'later' pile. This is not prioritising, it's procrastination.

What is the point of the 'later' pile? What does it do?

Well, it travels - we take it home with us in the evening to see to, then bring it back to work in the morning without having touched it. We take it with us on business trips and it sits in our briefcase - travelling the world, perhaps, but not being dealt with!

The 'later' pile always seems to be able to file itself too - badly. I guarantee that whenever you want something that you know is in your pile, you can't find it to save your life. But the next day, when it's too late, it will turn up on the top.

Finally, it nags you - whispering in your ear constantly - "Send that cheque today. Make that call, send that card, buy that present". Stressful, annoying little things, that constantly go round and round inside your head.

So what do piles do - travel, file badly and nag! Not the most useful things in the world then.

The thief of time shows itself in so many other areas - putting off the simple task of backing up your computer for instance. This, as we all know, becomes a major time consuming job if not done regularly, and then… well, we've all experienced what is guaranteed to happen - all those lost files - and what are the implications of that?!!

Filing is a classic, and what about expenses?

Any of you that are on the road a lot may recognise this one. The petrol gauge flashing empty: The trip computer warning you along with your passenger that you need fuel, and a petrol station coming up in the distance.

"Oh this car goes on for ages" - we say as we sail past the station. It's almost as though we are trying to push it as far as we can, like some kind of dare.

Soon thereafter we come to regret that the Recovery Service membership renewal is … in the 'later' pile.

It happens at home as well. Some people seem to think that if they don't open the bills but just put them on that pile, they don't have to pay them!

Why does procrastination have such a critical effect on our time? You know that when you put something off till later, it will always take longer than it would have done had you done it immediately.

How long does it take to rinse a mug in the morning? A few seconds. But how long does it take to wash up that mug if you left it till later in the day? A few moments - but that's just it, it's the few seconds versus the few moments. If you take that principle and run it through everything we are putting off till later, then it is easy to see where all the time is going.

So what do we do? Well there is a simple phrase that I use which really helps me here, and it is consistently running over in my mind. Three words that could literally change your life:

DO IT NOW

Adopt this attitude and see the small stuff vanish off into the distance - the stuff that should never get near your list and does not need to be prioritised or planned - just actioned.

Finally, a question I'm often asked: "But what do you do if you can't do it right now?" Someone on a seminar once answered this perfectly. She said "You decide which 'now' you are going to do it in!" Now that's prioritising.

It's the word 'later' that is the problem. It's too vague, too unspecific. If you picked up a magazine and saw an article that interested you but you were about to go into a meeting - you wouldn't 'do it now'. The problem is though, if you say: "that looks interesting, I'll read it later". You know as well as I do, you'll probably never read it.

Taking the advice of the delegate on my seminar - deciding which 'now' you are going to do it in, you should really say: "That looks interesting. I'll read it at lunchtime". Then at least you'd have a chance.

That's all it is though. I know it's crazy out there and you may not even get a lunch break today. None of this is guaranteed. All you are doing is shortening the odds, but if you give yourself a better chance, surely, it's worth it.

DO IT NOW!