Masonry Magazine October 2003 Page. 42
Finance Management
Finance
Time Management
Horse Sense
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
Productivity Institute Time Management Seminars
Everyone knows that time is money. Every
other month, Masonry's "Finance Manage
ment" will focus on how time management,
training and networking can affect your bot-
tomine.
Every horse race has a first place win-
ner and a runner-up, second place con-
tender. It is not uncommon for the first
place horse to earn twice the prize as the
second place finisher. Curiously, the
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number one horse did not have to run
twice as fast or go twice as far as the
competition to get twice the money. It
only had to be a nose ahead of the com-
petition to reap twice the rewards.
Time management, personal produc
tivity, and success in life are a lot like this
horse race metaphor. To get twice as
much in life, in any of our many dimen
sions-health, family, financial, intellec-
tual, professional, social and spiritual -
you do not have to double your effort
and input. You only need to get a nose
ahead of where you are now to realize
significant increases in your results.
When applied, five suggestions can
help you to get a "nose ahead."
Plan Ahead
First, plan your day every day the
night before. Then, when arriving at work,
there is a plan of action to direct you for-
ward. Without a plan, temptations may
draw you into unproductive avenues
where you may serve the loudest voice that
demands our time rather than dealing
with the most productive opportunity.
A simple plan consists of a list of all
the items you ideally might want to
accomplish during the next day. Prioritize
those items in order of their importance.
Begin the most important item first, then
go to the next most important item, etc.
Typically, it is unlikely that all of the items
on the list will be completed, but that is
During any typical business day,
there are reportedly
17million meetings being
conducted in the United States.
fine. Success has little to do with how
much was left undone at the end of the
day, but rather what was actually accom-
plished. You will always leave undone
more than you get done simply because
we all have more to do than time permits.
This says a lot of good things about how
good we really are, to have so much
entrusted to us by so many!
Overplan Your Day
Second, "overplan" your day to take
advantage of Parkinson's Law, which
teaches that "a project tends to take the
time allocated for it." If you give yourself
one thing to do during the day, it will like-
ly take all day to complete it. If you give
yourself two things to do during the day,
you will likely accomplish both. If you give
yourself twelve things to do during the day,
you may not get all twelve done, but you
may complete seven or eight items. Hav-
ing a lot to do creates a healthy sense of
pressure on you to naturally become bet-
ter time managers. With a lot on your
plate, you will tend to be more focused,
tend to suffer interruptions less, and dele-
gate better.
Clean Work Environment
Third, work with a clean desk and
work environment. There is truth in the