The Most Under-Valued ‘To-Do’ List of 2021
January 14th, 2021 // 11:02 am @ Scott Manning
When we enter a new year we always contemplate the use of our time and what we do or don’t do with it. I think for the most part people in general get too casual with their decisions about how they ‘spend’ (we like to say ‘invest’) time because it is the only real currency that is not able to be replenished.
Often people wander through a day or choose certain activities over others without really having any emotional implications or mental analysis over the use and the value of the time and the outcome for it.
I’m writing a series of reports to my Doctors right now about how to ‘increase’ the value of their time and of course it’s not about increasing the value of the time but instead increase the value of the activity goes in the time.
Last week, I challenged you to up your game on your “ownership” activities and your daily responsibilities of creating your own success and really taking control over your year – by taking control over your days – and focusing on the things that make the biggest difference.
Here’s the thing, personal time matters too, and while the value may not be quantitative there is an exchange, an opportunity cost, a compromise, and a sacrifice that is made with every decision about your time and this is why we ‘begin with the end in mind.’
There’s perhaps no better book about having more peace of mind with your personal choices by making sure you are always following your own compass than The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
For me, this book has been engrained in my mind and in my being as the guiding principles to how I value time on the personal front and weigh out what and who is most important.
It’s not easy to accept the consequences – and that is what they are – of making choices about something or someone over something else or someone else because you can’t ‘spend’ time doing everything or with everyone and so you must make choices.
There is nothing more detrimental to a person’s life than trying to please all the people and be, by choice, at the mercy of whatever everyone else wants from, for, and with you.
This is why being very clear on what you value most in regards to how you will utilize and invest your personal compartments of time this year is so critical to your own sanity, peace of mind, and ability to be in balance with your overall goals whether for your health, your faith, your family, your hobbies, your business pursuits and everything else.
You simply can’t give all the time to all the people and you can’t even give a little bit of time to many because then it’s worthless to them all.
If you are clear about the amount of hours in a week or a month you have to deposit in the personal side of your life and you make a list of all the things, people, places, experiences, activities (not to mention additional responsibilities that you have), you will quickly see that some – and probably many – just don’t make the cut.
This is also what gives you the power and permission – self given by the way – to make more tough decisions and be more aggressive with how you protect your time and what you choose to allow and tolerate.
As silly as is sounds, this is why I refuse to do anything that takes away from my value list. Even before I had a child, and now it has a whole new meaning and every precious moment is one that can’t be replicated or relived. I am ruthless about this.
It’s more valuable for me to read a book than to change a light bulb unless it’s the light I need for reading I suppose but then I’d just move and go somewhere else.
You have to have your list of do’s and don’ts. And if there’s a ‘when you get around to it’ then you are just too lazy with your time. With me, there’s no ‘getting around to it’ because there are no free minutes – they are all used up. There is nothing beneath the value line of time that I draw for the minutes I can’t get back.
There’s enough life stolen by others, government, traffic, travel, etc that I can’t tolerate anything else.
By the way, what this does for you (and quite frankly some can’t hang with it and I’m not here to make you me), it drives intensity – you work faster, move faster, make decisions faster, execute faster, you do everything with speed because it allows you to have more time freed up for the other things on the value list.
At the very beginning of your year, you’ve got to make the list of who gets in and who’s left out, what gets done and what doesn’t, the things you are going to conquer and the things you aren’t.
There’s an endless amount of possibilities but there’s limited time to make them happen. And here’s the thing, if you don’t choose, control, dictate, then everything and everyone else will for you.
The good news is, when you make your own list you get to decide what’s on it and you’ll be a hell of a lot happier and more excited about living your list than you would the alternative.
I saw this quote recently and I’m sure I’ve seen it many times but it really brought it home, “Most people are so busy counting the minutes that they forget to make the minutes count.”
This exercise, this list, this perspective, or to go with a Stephen Covey word having this paradigm about time and value – about choices and control – literally makes all the difference and it is the action of bringing to life the words ‘make the minutes count.’
And I challenge you to do that with greater intention by being more disciplined and deliberate in 2021 than ever before.
Next week, we’ll talk about some important paradigms shifts about your business that will help you with your next leap up in personal income and the results you have with your customers, clients, and patients.
Category : Blog
