Time Management is the Foundation of Your Growth
douglas hauptman • May 27, 2023
Managing time isn’t always easy but if you identify your mission you will have all the motivation you need to stay on track.
If you live long enough you will inevitably be late to an important date, or even worse, miss it entirely. We often forget about appointments and meetings because we are already stressed out about other priorities. If we further go on to miss a date, the anxiety can become unbearable for some.
SCENARIO:
Take the initiative to get control over your time management and set your business or career up for optimum success with its mission. You’ll be glad you did!
The worst thing you can do is let one mistake take away your entire opportunity or job. Instead of saying “sorry” and nervously pretending as if it did not happen, take responsibility. Most importantly, do not walk away and never look back. Instead, find the root cause of your untimeliness and make goals to improve this characteristic about yourself. With the help of an example scenario, I will walk you through the dynamics of time management and help you figure out why your own has fallen short.
A well-established contractor is late to meet potential customers and completely missed his appointment with subcontractors waiting to start on another job. As a result, the potential customers decide to go with another bid and the subcontractors he neglected no show the next day.
1. Actions speak louder than words. Take accountability.
The contractor needs to communicate his respect and gratitude for the customer and subcontractor’s time. He should also respond with a meaningful and vulnerable apology.
Perhaps the most important factor in time management is respect for other people’s time. Being late or missing appointments can significantly impact how others view us because if you cannot keep your word, people stop depending on you. This is a tough issue to rehabilitate unless you are willing to be vulnerable and take accountability. If you fail to do this, people will begin to treat you as inferior and your future opportunities can be halted. When you accidentally forget about someone, they might respond by intentionally forgetting about you. We often don’t value others time until we need it and this selfish dynamic can put a wrench in interpersonal communications and prevent growth within a business or person. Whether you’re a boss or an employee, respecting each other’s time is crucial for both of your wheels to keep turning.
If you miss a date or show up late, you’ve wasted someone else’s time and an adequate apology is in store. Be direct in taking accountability and assure that it will not happen again. Even if it was partly their fault, take it on the nose and move forward. Disrespect will take you to a dead end and time management is the foundation of respect between two people.
If you want to establish your limits for time then be transparent about your schedule. Make your schedule available to others to help express how valuable your own time is and encourage them to share their own schedule with you in return. Being open about schedules can cut out the trial and error stage and set the ground for people to have mutual understandings of other’s lives.
2. Why are you lacking time management skills?
What was the contractor preoccupied with? Was his schedule over packed or did he forget because he simply did not care? The contractor needs to reevaluate his mission and goals within his business and find out why motivation and self-discipline are lacking. If his schedule is overwhelming, then it’s time to re-prioritize commitments.
We have to want to be on time and show up. We have a lot of expectations on us that we need to acknowledge but in the end, we will only do what feels good. This is human nature. If we are not aligned with the mission of our business or job, then we might lack time management simply because we are not determined to focus on it. In all the businesses I have managed, I found that people who were not determined in their position were the same ones failing to commit to time. In other words, they did not have the passion for what was expected of them.
It’s important to dig deep and find the root cause of our lacking motivation. Even with all the best tools and coaching, if our heart isn’t in it then they are useless. We must be excited and have a vision of exactly what we want to accomplish. If you feel your schedule is overwhelming, think about whether it’s overbooking or your lack of excitement for the tasks at hand. Prioritize what needs to be done and accept that it won’t always be fun but might be necessary to reach your goal. Keeping your end goal in mind will give you the motivation to get over the hurdles that are not so enjoyable. If we do not have an end goal then where will the determination stem from?
I highly suggest reading my blog “Working For Your Life Purpose” to help define what your mission is and make sure you are aligned with this mission in everything you do.
Link: https://www.doughauptman.com/working-for-your-life-purpose
3. What resources are available to you?
The contractor should reflect on how he manages time. Does he make mental notes or physically write appointments down? Does he lose his notes often? Is it time to make digital notes? Or is his own self-discipline to stay focused what’s lacking? He must determine if his time management skills are working and take initiative if they are not.
As technology advances, we run out of reasons for not being punctual. In addition to phones and alarm clocks we now have apps, smart watches, and even AI products to help keep us on track. Business owners in particular should keep up with these tools and avoid becoming an outlier. Make it easy for people to understand and work with your schedule so mutual respect can develop. Apps are a great tool for time management because they cannot be lost and offer many different options for notifications such as emails, texts, and even phone calls. The most popular scheduling apps are Calendly, Appointlet, Zoho, Google, Trello, and Basecamp. Personally, I enjoy using Google Calendar and Basecamp because they are easy to use and readily available.
You can also utilize a life coach, such as myself, for improving your punctuality. Time management is something every life coach is seasoned in and they can serve as a third party help you learn about scheduling and organizing commitments. They can also help you identify your flaws and improve your dependability with others.
However, whether you have a life coach or every scheduling app available, your self-discipline will still be the most important factor. You must fully commit to your goals and no one can force you to do that but your own determination. The benefit of a life coach is that I can help you both identity your mission and manage your time accordingly.
4. How does this undependable behavior impact your business?
The contractor needs to understand how these mishaps are harming his business. His reputation can be damaged if he does not make the situation right which will lead to less jobs and scarce contracts with subcontractors to complete them.
Missing appointments and failing to show up will destroy our business or career before it ever begins. Businesses hire managers specifically to organize dates and times with the objective being leadership. Without them, a company would not run smoothly. This same dynamic can be applied to your own life and career. Without mutual respect for others and their time, we will not have positive relationships which are a staple of consumerism, business, and personal success. Additionally, if people lack respect for us then our growth is at a standstill.
Coach Doug's Blog
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