Everything Happens in Time

Matrix Key:  Time

"Time brings all things to pass." - Aeschylus

Have you noticed the purple background on the WholeLife Matrix?  It's not just a colorful compliment to the matrix graphic.  The background represents time, and the concept that everything we do, everything in life, happens in time.  The entire matrix is surrounded by time, and time is the one thing we all share.

Few people think they have enough time, and time is often to blame for not achieving certain objectives and intentions.  Why haven't you written job descriptions for your employees, or studied the sales numbers, or met with your top 20 clients?  Is it because you didn't have the time?

Successful people have a very distinct relationship with time.  They seem to get more done with the same 24 hours.  They use their calendars wisely, and schedule projects, meetings and personal time, just like they would schedule a doctor's appointment.  And they show up for what's in their calendars.

Here are four key thoughts about your relationship with time:

1. Radar Screen - where do you watch your time, in your head or in your calendar?
2. Task Collector -  how do you capture all the things you need to get done?
3. Putting Things in Time - how do you arrange your schedule so that you can get everything done?
4. Determine What Not to Do - how do you weed out or delegate what you don't have time to do?

Throughout this blog series, we will touch on the subject of time.  When you use the WholeLife Matrix as a tool for building a happy, successful life, you will become more and more comfortable with your relationship with time.  You will be able to have time to accomplish everything in business and in life.  And you will discover how winners always have time on their side.

Are you ready to win?    

The Business Scoreboard-Calendar

"Our chance of succeeding is much greater when we organize and take control of our lives."
- Merlin Olson, NFL Tackle & Sports Broadcaster

To win the game of business you have to do many things well. You have to keep all the functions of business working and moving forward at the same time. Drop one out and you will not be as successful. You may, in fact, lose the game. Many businesses fail in the first year because management has not learned how to keep all the functions moving forward.

The value of having a business coach is having someone who makes sure you don’t drop something out. You don’t miss an opportunity. You are covering all the bases. Your coach can teach you how to manage your game plan for success.

People will say they don’t have enough time. They can’t find good people. The economy is bad and sales are down. The truth is they are not managing their weekly Scoreboard/Calendar to make sure that they are including everything they need to win the game.

Your calendar is the scoreboard of your success. I see that many people make lists of things to do and never get them done. I found myself at one time working with several different lists every day. For some unknown reason I never seemed to be able to get everything done by the end of the day.

Finally one day I stopped and took the time to estimate how much time each task on the list was going to take. I totaled the hours only to find that I was trying to put 30 hours of work into a 2 hour timeframe. Not going to happen! I realized that I needed to change the way I operated. I took my task list and put it into my Scoreboard/Calendar. I started scheduling specific times to work on all my tasks. I gave up using a task list. From that point forward I knew where I was going to score points in the game of Business/Life because it showed as scheduled occasions in my Scoreboard/Calendar.

After I experienced the results this lesson taught me, I began coaching my clients to do the same. Did they have time scheduled in their calendars for business development? Did they have time scheduled for sales? Did they have time scheduled to manage production? Did they have time to manage the accounting and collection process?

Using your calendar to keep score not only provides you with a picture of the results, but it gives you a plan for the future. If you do not complete a task one day, you reschedule it into the future. You are always looking at what the future holds as a possibility. You never forget what needs to be done because you collect everything daily and put it into your Scoreboard/Calendar. By following these practices you have a system that keeps you out of the pit of disorganization. This is the foundation for producing more results and having a higher quality of life. You cannot increase your results until you have organized and planned what you have to do and created a system to manage your actions. All of that can be accomplished with daily use of a Scoreboard/Calendar and collecting and scheduling of every daily task.

When you look at your calendar as the scoreboard of your business you can easily see if you are going to be winning at the end of the day/week/year. You can adjust your game plan to respond to the challenges of your circumstances. Your coach can provide perspective for how to work the game plan. And when the buzzer sounds, you will have won the game of business.

Are you ready to win?