‘It is not possible to hold the day. It is possible not to lose it.’
Sundial, 1965
For the next one week, keep a log of all your activities every half an
hour and analyse. You may notice that you were interrupted throughout
the day by various events. In between interruptions you might have had
some time to do what you wanted to do. Some interruptions may be
functional and related to your job. But most of the interruptions will be
non-work related. You will notice that you never had a big chunk of time
and your day was fragmented.
You have to do something to consolidate your time and concentrate
on activities that you have to do. There is no point in saying that you
did not have the time. The fact is that the available time went to do an
activity that was not related to the task you had to accomplish.
One way to consolidate your time is to create “unavailable time” that
you need to invest in activities that you have to do. An open door policy
may be nice to hear. But if you do not know how to manage it effectively,
you will get into problems since your time will be fragmented by various
interruptions all through the day.
Use weekly and daily schedules to your advantage. Let people know
when you will be available and when you will not be available. But do
it with elegance. Next time when you meet a successful person, notice
whether he follows the above principle. You will be amazed to find that
any successful person knows when to do what and how much time
he should allot for that. He will find a way to consolidate his time for
constructive work.
(From my book 'The Gift of Time)
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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