Today I sat next to a guy that noticed my calendar. He made the comment, "That's a bit of a step back for you isn't it?" I told him about my recent change in time management techniques. One thing that I learned from my trip last week with John Ashcroft and the rest was the value of time. Leaders at that level don't sit around wasting time. They have embraced the fact that there is an unlimited amount of work and a very limited amount of time. When you come to the table, you'd better be on time and ready to get to the matter at hand.
One story that Ashcroft shared was that when he was AG he would have morning briefings with the President. The meeting was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. If you were not a half hour early, then you were late. In fact, most mornings John would be on the road to his office after the meeting and notice that it was about 8:25 a.m. Once he showed up at 8:09 and the door to the President's Office was closing. He had to stick his foot in the door to get into the meeting.
The way we manage time has a lot to do with the definition of our character. Our integrity is tied up in unparalleled ways to the way we treat Time and Money. When it comes to the method that one uses to manage time there is one principle that I believe overwhelmingly informs our efforts: Do whatever works for you and facilitates you being the best you can be.
--Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment