QUOTATION 20

THOMAS EDISON ON SAVING TIME

Use this to help you manage your time and achieve your objectives.

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) patented over 1,000 inventions in his lifetime. Even though many of these were actually developed by his workers, he was the driving creative force behind them. There is no way he could have achieved so much in his 84 years if he’d wasted time.

One cannot buy, rent or hire more time. The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up.

Thomas Edison

One way to get ahead is to work when you’re supposed to, play when you’re supposed to and not mix the two.

WHAT TO DO

  • Learn to say no. Don’t allow people to steal your time. Don’t allow colleagues to swallow up hours each week talking about everything from their partners to what was on TV the night before, or doing jobs that your staff have messed up. Learn to say no in all its forms and, if necessary, go on an assertiveness course.
  • Keep a detailed record of what you do over a week – and, yes, you should include your chats about the football and the latest bit of juicy gossip. You’ll be amazed at the rubbish you allow yourself to be dragged into.
  • Use The Eisenhower Time Management Grid to help you free up time that you can spend on the vital stuff that will help you achieve your targets and objectives. Start by analysing each task that crosses your desk, placing it into one of the following categories and follow the advice for each.

    Level of importance
     
    • Do it now!: This includes demands from your boss and the need to meet urgent deadlines.
    • Set time aside to do it: These are jobs that, if done now will save you time in the future by resolving ongoing problems at source. Unfortunately, they usually take a backseat to the urgent stuff. Use the time saved by not getting involved in the following two categories of work to deal with them.
    • Why are you doing it? These are tasks that you should not be doing and should be avoided by you and your team. Bin or delegate it.
    • Delegate it: There are other people’s crises that they try to make yours. If you want to help, delegate it.
  • If you have the self-discipline and assertiveness required, Eisenhower’s model can save you time which you can then invest in projects that will increase your productivity and get you noticed.
  • Eisenhower’s model deals with the clock, about the things you have to do in the short term. You also need to think about the calendar. The calendar contains those long-term jobs, targets and objectives that you will be judged on at some time in the future. Never lose track of these (see Quotation 19).

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • How good am I at prioritising my work? Am I a slave to the urgent?
  • When was the last time that I analysed what I do over a week?
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