Eliyahu Goldratt’s Cause-Effect-Cause analysis (see his “The Goal” and “It’s Not Luck”) allows us to drill down to a small handful of root causes that manifest as so many symptoms. I analyzed the root causes of the “no time” symptoms that many people present, and came up with a few (surprising) causes.

For example, constantly being late for appointments is not the problem, it is a symptom of starting late, incorrectly estimating transit time, forgetting something and having to go back for it, not keeping track of appointments, distraction, interruption, unrealistic expectations, getting lost, etc. Underlying all of these are factors such as lack of sufficient organization, lack of sufficient planning, inefficiency, and lack of sufficient discipline.

Another example of a symptom is the “too much work / not enough time” syndrome. It reflects inability to say no, attempting too much, insufficient delegation, too much clutter (i.e. unnecessary tasks on your plate), inefficiency, unrealistic expectation, consequences of action, etc. Underlying these problems are the same factors!

Let us try one more example symptom, completing tasks late or leaving things unfinished. The problems that display these symptoms include distractions, inability or reduced capability, pacing yourself too slowly (or marching to the wrong drumbeat), lack of preparation, improper process or sequencing of tasks, interference of thought and action (think first and act afterward otherwise the thought gets in the way of the action), conflicting priorities (pulled in different directions), etc. What are the underlying factors? The same!

Therefore, the REAL problems that must be addressed by any time management program is the lack of sufficient organization, lack of sufficient planning, inefficiency, and lack of sufficient discipline.

I am a time management coach and consultant specializing in teaching people how to do more with less time. My Bank Your Time program helps people gain control over the events that shape their lives. I do have an answer to Dr. Covey’s question.

The first thing I teach my clients is about eliminating the clutter, the 80% of tasks that yield only 20% value.
The second thing I teach them is about dividing their worlds into two parts – things they “have to” do and things they “want to” do. (This set of “have to” tasks is after eliminating the clutter, so they do indeed have to do these tasks!)

The question is: When do people get to do things they want to do? Answer: In their spare time. However, if they are stuck in prison of their own making wherein their “have to” tasks suck up all their time, where is the spare time? When can they do what they “want to” do? Most people have very little time to spare! What a problem!

Here is my solution: If people complete what they “have to” do in less time than expected (through efficiency tactics that I have developed), they can put together the time they save and create spare time for the things they “want to” do.

My concept is that if people only do what they “have to,” they merely exist. Only when they do what they “want to” do people really live. I teach people to stop merely existing and start really living.

In answer to Dr. Covey’s question, I teach people how to do more of what they “have to” in less time so that they can do more of what they “want to.” This is what I mean when I say “Do more in less time.”

True, there are many time management systems out there. And, as everyone else who has created a new system, I feel I have “invented a better mouse trap.” Or have I? What is significantly different about Bank Your Time? What fuels my passion?

Over the years, I have developed slogans or tag lines for Bank Your Time, ranging from “Do More With Less Time – Time is Money,” “Create Spare Time For Things You WANT To Do,” “Stop merely existing; start really living,” “The Goal-Oriented Metrics-Driven Productivity Enhancement System,” etc. All of these are true – they all describe Bank Your Time to some degree. None of these, however, reflect the main reason why I started doing this and quit my well-paying job to teach others and bring some sunshine in others’ lives.

Bank Your Time is a GAME! It evolved from something I created to teach my 9-year-old son the elements of time management. Since lectures don’t work with children but games do, and, in Mary Poppins’ words, “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun,” I put some fun into time management. It worked, my children now manage their time to the best of their abilities (they are, after all, children!), and the experienced enriched me. It enthused me and infused me with the passion to take this to the tops of tall buildings and shout out for the world to hear. Many people have told me, “Time management is so B-O-R-I-N-G,” or “Time management systems don’t work for me.” The same people have accepted Bank Your Time with (not so surprising) open arms. When something is a game, it is fun and more readily adopted than a process or a system, however good the process is for you.

For more information about Bank Your Time, do visit my website, http://www.bankyourtime.com.

1. Emotions. Emotions in general, particularly negative emotions such as anger, fear and jealousy, take your attention away from the task at hand. If your mind is not on what you are doing, you will take longer to do it. Anger relates to things past and fear to things yet to come. You cannot do anything about the past except come to terms with it. And, as FDR said, there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Why worry about things you have no control over? Control your emotions and get more done quickly.
2. Indecision. Results are produced by actions, and decisions trigger actions. Sometimes it is the fear of making the wrong decision that causes the indecision. Other times, one may hide behind indecision as the reason not to take action. Realize that unless you take a decision and act in accordance, you cannot get rid of the monkey on your back. Effective people are quick to take decisions because they know that it does not get easier the more you put off deciding/
3. Lack of predetermined response to possible situations. Do you have a Plan B? When things do not go as planned, if you don’t have a backup plan, you react. On the other hand, if you have considered possible scenarios and thought about what you would do if they occurred, you don’t react but respond.
4. Insufficient separation of thought and action. You cannot think and act at the same time. The thinking gets in the way of the doing and the doing gets in the way of the thinking. The best approach is to think first and act afterward.
5. Not thinking things through. Every solution breeds problems. Actions have consequences, and the consequences of actions must be identified and evaluated before deciding upon the course of actions.
6. Parking on a task (Tinkering). Some people cannot leave a completed task well alone. They re-open the task to tweak it. And tweak it. And tweak it. Enough, already!
7. Thought inertia. After a heated discussion, have you found yourself thinking to yourself, “I should have said this” or “I wish I had said that?” Your mind is lingering over the last task even as you move on to the next task. This inertia is due to the emotion that went into the task – the more you get attached to your task, the greater the inertia. When a task is done, push it completely out of your mind and move on to the next task.
8. Do-overs. When you do a task wrong the first time and get to work on it again, time is a-wasting!
9. Unused wait time. Waiting is a fact of life – queues, doctors’ offices, delayed meetings and appointments, traffic, commute, etc. There are things we could be doing in this time. At the least, there may be some reading to catch up with. At the most, work that lives in the “pending” column could be put paid to.
10. Poor recovery from interruptions. Much as we would like to avoid being interrupted while focusing upon a task, we cannot ignore all calls on our time. Interruption is a choice.

For a free white paper on 5 steps you can take to extract the greatest value from your time, do visit my website, http://www.bankyourtime.com.

WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES: A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON: I’d trade all of my tomorrows/for a single yesterday.

MARCUS AURELIUS: Remember that man’s life lies all within this present, as ‘t were but a hair’s-breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone, the future yet unseen.

OMAR KHAYYAM: The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it

PETER DRUCKER: The future is not going to be made tomorrow; it is being made today, and largely by the decisions and actions taken with respect to the tasks of today.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for time is the stuff life is made of.

PETER DRUCKER: Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM: I don’t think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.

PETER DRUCKER: The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Marcus Aurelius said, “Man’s life is just this present, as ’twere a hair’s breadth of time. As for the rest, the past is gone and the future yet unseen.” There is another saying (author unknown) that goes, “The past is history, the future is a mystery. This moment is a gift, that is why it is called the present.”

Anger is a past oriented emotion and fear is a future oriented emotion. Rarely is one angry about things that have not yet occurred or fearful about events that have occurred. By shutting out fear, anger and other negative emotions, one can focus on the present. This allows one to focus and complete tasks efficiently and accurately.

Time can be managed best when negative emotions are in check.

Happiness and bliss are in the present.

Meeting him has given me a new perspective on time management.

Before I describe this perspective, let me lay some foundation. What is time? Time is the medium within which events can occur. Time is what separates events so that everything does not happen all at once and become a huge tangle. “Time management” is an incorrect term – we do not manage or control time; rather, we manage or control events within time. One of Hyrum Smith’s “10 Natural Laws” is to control events in our lives before the events in our lives control us.

Here’s the new perspective: Time management, or controlling events in time, requires events!

While most time management programs focus on controlling the selection and sequence of events, i.e. prioritization and determining what to do next, it is not enough. Controlling events must also include controlling the duration – how much time the event should take. My tactical time management program a holistic approach to controlling events in life.
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Prakash Rao is a coach, trainer and consultant in Bank Your Time/Tactical Time Management, a very unique time management system. He can be contacted at prakash@bankyourtime.com.

My mantra is “Prepare, Think, then Act.” Preparation saves time, separating thinking from action prevents the thinking from coming the way of action. Yogi Berra said “Think? You can’t think and swing at the same time!”

Last week, I put together a bookshelf. It was a white 5-shelf O’Sullivan bookshelf that comes as a kit including the frame, screws, nails – and NO HAMMER! I prepared by making room for the project, stacked the boards in the order I would need them, and got started putting the thing together. Everything went fine until I needed to nail the back onto the frame. I needed a hammer! It took me only two minutes to run down to the garage and get my hammer from the tool chest, but the point is – I violated my own rule! Two minutes is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the 1440 minutes every day holds, but lost time is irrecoverable and adds up to lost hours.

Benjamin Franklin had said, “Dost thou value life? Then don’t squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.” I teach, coach and train people in the tips, tricks, techniques and tactics that can get tasks done quickly so that you can do more in less time. Check out http://www.bankyourtime.com for more details. Contact me at prakash@bankyourtime.com to engage my services.

Think? How are you going to think and swing at the same time?

My take on that: How can you think and do something at the same time? The thinking gets in the way of the doing.

This is especially true when you tackle an urgent task. You react, you try to figure out a solution quickly and implement the solution at the same time, your legs get tangled up and you fall flat.

The fire department does not react. Fire fighters don’t have to plan their actions because the actions are all planned out already. They already know what to do in any circumstances, and when the emergency occurs, they RESPOND!

The difference between reaction and response is simple: it is the separation of thought and action. If you can identify all situations that can arise and plan the course of action up front, handling any situation is a breeze. If you don’t separate the thinking from the doing, you react – and panic!

Do you want to respond or react? Your choice … but choose wisely!

Yankee Baseball legend Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra is famous for his unintended witticisms also known as “Yogi-isms.” Here are a couple of his Yogi-isms very relevant to my point:

• You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
• If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.

There is also the old chestnut (not attributed to Yogi Berra), “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.“

Bank Your Time is a goal-oriented system. It is designed to help you reach a definite goal, to help you find time to be able to do a definite action namely something you want to do. The first step, therefore, is to define the goal and to identify the the thing that you want to do.

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, if you don’t have a goal, you won’t reach it. In other words, unless you set yourself a target, you won’t have the enthusiasm or determination to achieve it. You won’t be motivated to complete tasks quickly.