Hugh Jackman – “The secret to modern life is finding the measure in time management. I have two kids, career and I travel, and I don’t think my life is any different than most…The most valuable commodity now for many people is time and how to parcel that out”
Where would we be in life without the paternal advice of Hugh Jackman?
Jokes aside, many would agree with his point that time is a commodity (time is money), but then most of us are better at managing money than time. My first manager made an interesting point that time is not money. You can take money and put it to one side and ensure it doesn’t slip away. You can take money and let it gather interest. Time clearly doesn’t work like this, it’s never (sp)ending and you cannot control it. You must manage it.
When I self-assess, I always complain that I can’t manage my time effectively. Recently I gained some interest on LinkedIn on a simple point I made about time management…
The same manager mentioned that in his 30 year career, he noticed that the most successful people can account for their time. They know when, where and how they have spent their time that day, week, month and year.
The first step to better time management is to become conscious of how you spend your time. At the start of each day create a day plan and be strict with your allotted time for each activity. In your day plan you don’t just need actions, you need aims. What do you want from that action? I used to know someone who had a countdown timer on their desk and when the alarm hit they stopped that activity and moved onto the next! This creates an urgency with your time and limits time wasting (such as posting inspirational quotes or puzzles on LinkedIn).
Here’s a snippet of today’s day plan:
| TIME | ACTION |
AIM |
| 09.00am – 09.30am | Write and publish blog post about time management | Inspire millions becoming rich and famous in the process |
| ……. | ……. | ……. |
| 6.30pm – 7.30pm | Go to the gym | Become Wolverine |
Joe Burridge 