We have heard the slogan that we don’t have enough time in the day. Is this true? Yes, if I were to lie to myself. On the contrary we have all the time that we need, whether it is 24 hours in a day, 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. We have the same time as everyone; the only difference is how we use it. Time is as precious as life. It is here then fades. Time is as precious as the seasons. It’s here then fades. Once time is gone, it is gone forever; we can never reclaim it (Ecclesiastes 3).
We must look at time as a function of productivity. Productivity increases or decreases when there is input or lack thereof. The input of your time is challenged by the noise in the system. The noise in the system is the pressure that causes productivity to increase or decrease. In other words, the noise in the system is either controlled or uncontrolled.
For instance, let’s say you desire to complete yard work that you have been putting off. The output of your yard work is determined and controlled by the weather or an outside force. Let’s look at the same example, another system noise – uncontrolled. The uncontrolled noise is doing everything but the yard work, such as running errands, buying groceries or doing something other than the intended purpose for that day. As result, the yard work does not get done. We now claim that we did not have the time to do it, but there was ample time to complete it.
In order to increase productivity on a daily basis, we must look at our uncontrolled noise. The uncontrolled noise does not bring us to our purpose, destiny, or maximize productivity for that day. It brings us to confusion, lack of motivation, and variety of emotional feelings. The uncontrolled noise signal impacts our time and as a result productivity is limited. The uncontrolled noise could be a person, place or thing.
So we have to look at our productivity as a budget. Your income is time and your expenses are those noise signals (controlled and uncontrolled). The summation of the two determines your true productivity.
Let’s go through your expenses. Get a sheet of paper and on the left side, list all of your controlled activities. Controlled activities should manifest maximum productivity. These are the activities or projects that you wanted to do but never had time to complete it. On the right side, list those expenses that are uncontrolled. These expenses (activities) do not lead to your purpose and maximum productivity. Examples are talking on the phone, surfing on the web, watching television, sleeping and etc. Once you have those columns, estimate the amount of time that you spend on these activities on a daily basis. Look at both columns again and examine how you can increase those controlled activities by limiting one uncontrolled activity. So maybe instead of watching 4 hours of television a day, you only limit to 2 hours and place those hours to a controlled activity that will bring you maximum productivity. Once you estimate the time, take the next day and work your plan. Do this activity for the next month and see how much you get accomplish. By the way your income (time) is constant whether you have 24 hours, 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. You have assuredly increased your productivity.
Make a great day!
Cedric Dukes is an author and speaker and can be contacted at www.cedricdukes.com.