ABSTRACT

Time is endless, but your time is limited. Do you use it to your best advantage? Expressions such as ‘There are not enough hours in the day’, ‘Where does the time go?’ and ‘I’ve got too much time on my hands’ suggest not. These expressions indicate you’re not in control of time, for example, you’re in a constant state of hurry as you race through the tasks on your ever lengthening to-do lists, or you’re drifting through life without clearly de ned values or goals to guide you. On the other hand, you may know individuals who pack a lot of productive activity into each day and wonder: ‘How can they do it and I can’t?’ Time is neutral, though: it does not tick faster on a busy day any more than it ticks slower on a boring or listless day, or favours one person over another. As with the other topics in this book, time management is really about self-management: time itself doesn’t have to be managed as it proceeds one second at a time all on its own! In other words, in order to understand why you don’t make the best use of your time, look to yourself and not to the clock. People who consult us for a coaching programme often tell us that their diaries are distressingly full, nothing can be cut out and everything is equally important. We know from our own personal and coaching experiences that this perceived helplessness is not the case but why can’t they see it?