Why Time Will Never Rule My World, Life or Work Again

Time is the most commonly used noun in English.

What time is it?

What time will you be back at?

What time are you leaving?

What time will that be ready at?

What time are you getting up at?

Will this be ready on time?

How much time do I have left?

How am I using my time?

I could overwhelm you with time questions all day. It all gets a bit exhausting, doesn't it? The world is obsessed with time. Time is money mentalities prevail in society. We want everything faster, quicker and on time. Are we losing our ability to be patient and embrace waiting? Is it making us more angry and less self-compassionate?

Time for a truth bomb!

No scientific experiment has ever been done or could be done to prove that time exists.

So, is time just a figment of our imagination?

One of the things I hear a lot in my work is my client's fear of wasting time in their life and career. I'm of the opinion we only waste time when we don't learn something valuable on reflection.

What went well?

What didn't go well?

What can I do better in my next attempt? (Note I purposely didn't use the word time there!)

And what if what could have been can still be when it comes to missed opportunity? Time can be used as an excuse to avoid taking action. I used it. I still do.

It's too late

I'm too old

I don't have the time to learn something new

I've missed a valuable opportunity

I'm wasting my time

I have missed many opportunities in my life and work but dwelling on it leads to procrastination. I end up in a doom loop of distraction. I enter the stagnation zone. Then I start to look outside of me for the answers. I scroll through LinkedIn seeking out self-help posts on time management and productivity!

Who doesn't love a good time management tip eh? But through self-assessment, a part of me feels that the time I have spent scrolling and reading is more of a band-aid to avoid taking action. I'm following the herd. In that space, I could just do it or as my colleague, Joe Hendley says to me #JFDI. And all without letting two hands on a dial dictate my output and measure of success.

What is the result of just doing it?

It is action and space to reflect on what true effectiveness looks like for me. I let go of the procrastination that comes with band-aiding my fear of wasting time. Don't get me wrong I am an advocate for time. I showed up ten minutes early for my wedding. There were guests walking up the aisle with me!

But there is a context in time as with everything else.

I value my time

I value my clients time

I like to be on time

I like my clients to be on time

When I working with clients I give them my time. I don't sit with a timer.

But how can we let go of our fear of wasting time and missing opportunity? Know that there is always time if you ensure your actions match your purpose no matter how many hours in the day there are.

Cue food for thought prompt...

Does our fear of wasting time gets confused with our fear of missing opportunities?

Efficiency is a beautiful thing for sure as it guards against the fear of wasted time. But true effectiveness is the key.

What is true effectiveness?

How do you define it in your life and work?

Do you remember Aesop’s fable of the goose and the golden egg?

One morning a farmer finds a glittering, golden-coloured egg sitting beneath his goose. At first, he thinks it is a prank, but he decides to have the egg appraised just in case.

To the farmer’s amazement, the egg is pure gold!

And each morning his prize goose continues laying the valuable eggs.

The farmer becomes extremely wealthy. But he also becomes greedy and impatient.

One day in his frustration the farmer kills the goose, hoping to get all of the golden eggs at once from inside the goose.

As we all know, the farmer finds nothing. And now, he has neither a goose nor any more golden eggs.

The moral of this story is normally about the danger of greed. The farmer grasped for too much wealth in too short of a time. But, there is a broader lesson about balance. There is always a tension between results and the ability to produce those results (aka effectiveness).  

Stephen Covey author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People refers to the story and describes the essence of effectiveness as:

“Effectiveness lies in the balance – what I call the P/PC Balance. P stands for production of desired results, the golden eggs. PC stands for production capability, the ability or asset that produces the golden eggs.

The more you produce, the more you do, the more effective you are.

But, true effectiveness is a function of two things:

1. What is produced (the golden eggs)

 2. The producing asset or capacity to produce (the goose).

If you adopt a pattern in your life and work that focuses on golden eggs and neglects the goose, you will soon be without the asset that produces golden eggs. If you only take care of the goose with no aim toward the golden eggs, you soon won’t have the ability to feed yourself or the goose.

Either extreme is a problem. So, you have to strive for a balance between the two. And that delicate balance is the essence of effectiveness.

True effectiveness lies in the balance. It lies in knowing what it looks like for you. It is very individual and we must respect our definition of it and avoid making comparisons.

True effectiveness is strategic.

Let’s take a moment to consider the theory of P/PC balance Covey gave us around balance in our lives and career.

Am I balanced in my life and work?

Am I balancing my production and my production capacity?

Do I need to reconsider my priorities?

What is the moral of the story overall?

Don’t kill your goose.

You can pick up a copy of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People here.

Let's return to the fear of wasted time? What re-frame can you use to let go of that fear?

I would invite you to consider:

What is your definition of time?

Here is mine...

It is respect and space.

Respect for what I have achieved even if that is only one thing in the space of twenty-four hours.

Respect for space I have created to achieve this one thing.

Respect for the space I've created to reflect on opportunity and learn from it. It's letting go of the tick-tock of the clock measuring my success and output.

It's being compassionate enough to understand that I may not achieve anything in twenty-four hours except waking up and being grateful for my breath. It is knowing that is enough.

My energy is focused on true effectiveness in my life and work to create impact.

That is what will create a legacy in my life and work.

For more on career coaching and consulting see here

The Startup of Me. Heavy vs Lean Pivoting.

In 2014 I was five stone overweight and chronically ill.

It was a pivotal point in my life which led me on to many more.

No specific eureka moment drove me to change my life radically. Instead, there were lots of sharp pain points. I had much shrapnel to pull out and let the wounds heal. It was only then that I moved forward. I was a creature of habit, but us humans are complicated things.

So I had to challenge myself to succeed in a new environment and under new conditions.

How?

By re-calibrating. You can read more about how I lost the weight on Thrive Global if interested. I had to make the exercise and nutrition go from being an activity to a ritual.

A ritual to save my life and enable me to go from one pivot to the next.

You have to make your body your no one priority in a pivot. You need every cell to be high functioning. You will be in overdrive answering difficult questions. Willpower is a limited resource.

The extra stressors can lead to over sensitivity. Health fluctuations that may not have affected you in the past can do so now.

With a change, you have to safeguard your emotional and physical health to succeed. Numbing out stress with food and alcohol is not advisable. Test yourself and see what your triggers are.

What elevates your mood, creativity and physical and emotional resilience?

What kills it?

A glass of wine or two is fine but reaching for a third when you have to wake up the next day and wrestle with complex pivot questions is not good. You be the judge find what works for you and practice it consistently.

Get the basics of good sleep, exercise and nutrition in place. Strip your life down to the most productive and healthy ones, so you have a clean system to operate from daily

Kick the crutch and ace the goal.

What rituals have helped you in a transition or pivot?

Would you be willing to share them in the comments below?

You never know who you could have an impact on today.

For more details on consulting packages see here . To book a ten minute complimentary call email me at pauline@paulineharley.com

What Core Needs Must My Career Meet?

Have you ever created the space to ask yourself these questions?

Maybe you could find some time in this new month to do so.

Here are some prompts and further thought-provoking to help you with this valuable exercise. 

Personal and Professional Values:

What is most important to you in the next one to three years?

What are your values around this?

What do you really need in your life and how do you envision your career attributing to it?

Things like financial security, benefits and stability matter.

Time is a factor also. It is one of your most valuable resources. 

How much freedom and flexibility would you like?

Self-fulfilment:

Intrinsic 
How much personal growth, learning and impact do you want to have?

We all need to feel like we are progressing and part of something to build our self-esteem and natural confidence.

Extrinsic
What about your job title? Does it matter to you?

Are prestige and authority important to you?

Relationships:

What type of people do you like to work with?

What type of company culture is important for you to thrive?

What teamwork do you enjoy?

Are workplace friendships important to you?

What management opportunities exist for you?

Mobility:

What movement would you prefer in your role?

Is there freedom from repetition?

It is one of the biggest reasons I see people come to me in my practice!

Boredom from repetition can result in demotivation, decreased confidence and low impact.

You might think all of these are important at present and they very well may be.

But it is crucial to prioritise the most important ones in the present moment.

Then you can begin to create an actionable career vision for the next few years.

If you are having difficulty doing this at present  this final question may elicit the most important answers for you in time:

What is missing from your current role?

Feel free to contact me to discuss in more detail. Happy to help as always.

For more details on consulting packages see here. You can also book a one-off consultation at a discounted cost here