Mike Clark’s Business Bites: Do you know where your time goes each day?

Do you know where your time goes each day? Photo / Margeaux Walter

OPINION:

When was the last time you checked your addiction levels? In training, I often have that little voice in my head reminding me I could do with practicing what I preach. I strive to find, live and share best practices in all areas of my life. Time management is the area I have most consistently grown in - or as I call it in my training, time optimisation.

You cannot manage time. We are all blessed with 86,400 seconds in a day. It is the only thing I am aware of that all of humanity has in equal amounts.

It is what you do with what you have that makes the difference.

That brings me back to my opening question. Do you know where your time goes each day? What is your mindset around time? Are you inclined to complain about always being busy, never having enough time, or days flying by? Maybe the days drag for you; you are bored, you can’t wait for the weekend?

The way we set our mind to think about time usually determines how we process the time we have. Our eyes and ears see, hear, and observe what our mind is looking for. A great way to check your constructs around time is to watch your thoughts and words. Do you describe going to work as something you ‘have’ to do, or something you ‘get’ to do?

Do you have a standard default reply to the ‘how are you doing?’ question that involves describing how busy you are? Do you use your weekends to escape your reality, enjoy your life or create the future reality you would like to have?

These are all thought-provoking questions I like to use to stir conversation and discussion. Most people are not conscious of where their time goes in a day. To help increase awareness, I get people to keep a 15-minute timesheet for two weeks. Keeping a note of what you have done with your time every 15 minutes highlights how much of our day disappears. The biggest culprits are usually identified as one of the big three: interruptions, distractions, and procrastination. The most common creator of these is your cellphone!

Designed on the same principles as pokie machines, cellphones use various techniques to keep you staring at them for as long as possible. From notification sounds, vibrations and buttons, to the intermittent rewards we get from emails and social media. Have you ever picked up your phone to do something, only to see a notification, read it, and like/comment/reply - which then leads to looking at the next item on your feed?

Realising you are distracted, you put your phone down, only to remember why you picked it up in the first place. You pick it up to see the person you replied to has replied to you asking for something that leads you to look in your files, emails, and photos, and you reply and put your phone down.

Are you addicted to your screen? I still spend more time than I would like or intend to looking at my screen. A ruthless elimination of notifications has proved liberating. Do you need an addiction check?

• Mike Clark is director and lead trainer and facilitator at Think Right business training company.