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The Time Thieves
Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can't afford to lose.
Thomas Edison
It's only March and already many of my clients are panicking that the year is almost a quarter over! Where did the time go?
Maybe it’s me but doesn’t it seem to go quicker than it used to? Well, I know that’s not the truth, but I also know that we are all trying to cram so much in to our waking hours that we just cant afford to spend any time on activities or with people who waste our time.
Where Did It Go?!
So if you have ever wondered where the day went or you are a person that often seems to run out of time no matter how well you’ve planned, take heart, you are not alone.
I have discovered exactly what is happening and I’ll tell you this, every day all over the world, many many people are experiencing the same strange phenomena. There are insidious little monsters that slide into our lives with the sole intention of stealing our most precious asset, our time.
No, truly!
They come in through the back door in the shape of people and tasks that get in your way. I call them the Time Thieves.
Do you ever get the feeling that whole mornings or afternoons have been "stolen" from you? Have you ended the day bemused, wondering where the hours disappeared to and berating yourself for your lack of productivity?
No one is ever truly safe from the Time Thieves because they work subliminally. They arrive uninvited and before you know it you’ve been "burgled" and there’s no 3 star policy to allow you to claim back the time. It’s gone, never to return.
However there is an answer. There is only one tool has ever been effective in allowing you to take control of your time so that you can recognize and eliminate the time thieves. It’s a way of noticing how your time gets taken from you and it’s called "The Art of Self-Management."
Master Time
Self-Management is key in mastering the time in your life. Unless you can trust yourself to create strong boundaries, and know when and what to say yes and no to, those time thieves will get the better of you every day. In order to discourage them, you’ll need to stay focused on your outcome and become adept at your communication.
Whenever you open your mouth to speak, you have the power to move towards the life you want or move away from it. The power of language as a major asset in self-management cannot be underestimated.
Unless you can articulate your needs honestly and responsibly you’ll be victim to the timewasters who’d rather you did what they wanted instead of what you want. Self-management is a discipline that you must commit to.
But my experience is that many people wait until they are so put upon, so overwhelmed and so uncomfortable that they become self-managed as a means of survival.
By recognizing the pitfalls, you are able to anticipate and negotiate and manage your time. If you take a moment to think honestly, you probably already know what your own personal time thieves look like but there may be some you have not yet identified.
One thing’s for sure, successful people are self-managed people who spend their time wisely. They know how much their time is worth to them both financially and emotionally and they only invest it in what’s most important.
Paid Time
For those of you who are exchanging your time for money, the following analysis is for you because it will let you know exactly how much your time is worth so you can decide where to invest it.
Time Cost Analysis
Take, for example, a person who earns £30,000 per year. Based on a 52-week year, this equates to a weekly salary of £576.92. £576.92 based on a 40-hour week gives an hourly rate of £14.42, which works out to be 0.24 pence per minute.
Note though that these calculations are pre tax deductions and daily expenses. When you add those into the equation, your value per year and pro rata down the line will decrease.
So take a pen and paper and a calculator and work through the following steps to discover exactly how much your time is worth.
- What is your yearly salary?
- Divide your yearly salary by 52 weeks to reveal your weekly salary
- Divide your weekly salary by 40 hours to give you your hourly rate
- Finally divide your hourly rate by 60 to give you your value per minute.
You may, of course work more or less than a 40-hour week and you can change the calculations accordingly. Don’t forget to add in your travel time too.
As someone who is self-employed I realise that it’s not just my paid hours that count as work time. It’s not unusual for me to work a 60-hour week even though my paid hours are less. I have my admin, my bookwork, the service I offer my clients in terms of emails and pre-session arrangements, preparation for trainings, and more besides. I need to spread my salary across all my working hours to get a true picture of how much my time is worth.
So now you have a true picture of your financial worth, are you surprised at the outcome? I imagine there are all kinds of thoughts that have occurred to you as a result of this exercise.
Priceless Time
What about those of us who do not measure our daily lives in financial terms? People like parents or carers who might have little or no income. If you are one of these people, your time is Priceless Time. It just cannot be equated to money.
The emotional and physical energy you expend on a daily basis is immeasurable and my hope is that you derive satisfaction and personal fulfilment in all your daily tasks. You work with love and I have never found anyone who can put a price on that.
Whether you are paid or unpaid for what you do, you still need to focus on how much it costs you to waste your time on many "low yield" activities, which battle for your attention on a day-to-day basis.
You see, however meticulously you plan your day, when the time thieves arrive you’d better be ready for them and to do that, you have to understand what they look like.
Interrupted Time
The time thieves present themselves in the form of interruptions. The average person gets one interruption every eight minutes or approximately seven per hour, or fifty to sixty per day. The average interruption takes 5 minutes, totalling about four hours or 50% of the average workday. 80% of those interruptions are typically rated as “little value” or “no value” creating approximately three hours of waster time per day.
Ultimately you need to know where to build strong defences that will keep the time thieves at bay. You need to know what you can control and do something about it and know what you cant control so you can set time aside for the unexpected situations that will almost certainly arise at one time or another.
Francine Kaye is leading an afternoon workshop called "Time To Live" on Saturday 22nd April 2006 in London - you can see more, and book online, here.
