I continue to reflect on the slippery ways I've tried to manage time.
Setting alarms, leaving reminder notes, calling my own cell phone…all
in an attempt to do all I have to do in the time that I promised. I
started thinking of it differently. What, historically, was time
management? I wanted to know, because what it was, and how I was taught
to do it, isn't standing the test of time.
Through the historical development of manufacturing and progress, it's been more important to get more, with less. In fact, time management was originally developed to help people compartmentalize their work by any one of the following:
periods of time;
priority;
boss;
customer; or
request.
It was a way to work and live that made sense in the past; however, and increasingly, our competing intentions, completing priorities and competing areas of interest impede the way we used to:
do things in an order that made sense;
take projects one day at a time;
achieve goals one-by-one; and
finish the day content.
Now it's necessary to manage more than time, there is our limited energy and a variety of areas on which we focus. Now, we track our tasks - what did I complete today? - as they build toward outcomes - what am I responsible for managing? Sometimes it won't be possible to work on, manage, or complete a larger objective in a single day. However, that same day may offer several opportunities to “start” on any one of many projects.
I believe outcome management demands we appropriately direct our focus on present conditions, possibilities and actions. Take a look at what you have to manage, and identify some piece, or some pieces, of the puzzle that can be wrapped up by the end of work today.
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