CEO – Time – Part II

The executive, even the CEO, has to deal with a few realities that are essentially outside his control.  For example, the executive’s time seems to belong to everyone else.  Much of a CEO’s time is taken up with the demands of others.  It seems that executives normally have no time of their own, because their time is always pre-empted by matters of importance to somebody else.  (from The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker) 

Here some thoughts I’ve adapted from www.teconline.com regarding time management:   

1. Start each day early. Give yourself time to wake up. This early hour is also perfect for quiet study and reflection with the LORD. 

2. Assume everything takes longer than you think it will. You’ll be right.  

3. Assume everyone else will take longer than you think to get back to you. You’ll be right.  

4. Don’t skimp on reading and thinking time, but don’t pursue these activities during prime managing/leading hours—another case for getting up early. 

5. Assign the right number of minutes to every task on your list.  Know how much time you intend to invest in a given activity.  

6. Keep simplifying your filing system. Remember, if it doesn’t work as a "finding system," it’s fatally flawed.  

7. Break all tasks down to smaller, actionable chores. Focus on first steps and very next steps. Track your progress on each item in a written log.  

8. Be your own boss. Know your own weaknesses and hold yourself accountable. Give yourself appropriate rewards for completing important tasks that may be difficult to motivate yourself to complete.  

9. It’s easy to be busy without being productive. Know the difference. For leaders, productive means "doing the right things."  

10. Cluster similar activities together. Try to gather similar activities into the same chunk of the day.  

11. Plan everything two weeks in advance. You should know, today, what your major priorities are going to be for each of the next ten business days.  

Peter Drucker stated quite clearly in The Effective Executive that effective executives must know where their time goes.  The goal is to work at this little by little, slowly taking back some control over their time.   

Dr. Drucker advises executives to start with their “time,” not with their “tasks.”  The idea is to reduce unproductive demands on their time.  And then to consolidate any discretionary time into the largest “chunks” possible.   

How would you go about this?

1. Record your time
2. Manage your time
3. Consolidate your time

Remember, you can hire more people and buy more resources, but you cannot rent, hire, buy or otherwise obtain more time.  Time is your key limited resource. 

According to Drucker, “Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.” 

Here’s an exercise for you to do: 

1. Guess as to how you actually spend your time for a normal work week.  Be as detailed as possible.
2. Lock your guesses away for a few weeks.
3. During that time (with your time guesses safely locked away), run an actual time record on yourself (use increments of 15 minutes).
4. Compare your guess to your actual.

By conducting the above exercise, you will actually know where your time is being spent.   

The Bible has a great deal to say about time.  In fact the word “time” occurs 620 times in 563 verses.   

Three verses that come to mind regarding time are: 

Ephesians 5:15,16   Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 

Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 

James 4:14b   What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

It’s interesting that Jesus, fully God and fully Man, knew how much “time” He would have on earth—a mere 33 years or so.  And yet, we never see Him in a hurry.  He lived and spent His time, I believe, as we all should live and spend our time: 

One Person to please; one day at a time.  

Have a blessed week. 

Keith

www.daystarconsulting.com