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All The Things I Do
By Brick | January 15, 2008
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One idea that has really resonated with me lately is that we really should work to live, yet often we end up living to work. Unfulfilling work can consume so much of our time, leaving tired evenings and perhaps a few hours on the weekends to pursue our dreams - if we even have any left after our jobs and responsibilities at home have sucked the life-blood from our souls! Alright, that last sentence was a bit strong, but you get the point. It is often not a matter of money as much as it is a matter of time. We suffer from time poverty!
Let’s think about money for a moment. What do you do when you are perpetually in debt, or living dangerously above your means? Usually the very first order of business is to find out where you are spending your money. To manage your money you have to be able to account for it. The same goes for your time. To drag yourself out of the misery of time poverty, you need to understand where you are spending your time.
Step 1: Track
Here is what I suggest: for a week, make a conscious effort to track everything you do, and I mean everything. Since I am usually at or near a computer, I created a calendar in Google to track all the various things I did during my waking hours. Excel, a notebook or a simple pad of paper would work equally well. Activities you track will most likely include meetings, checking email, processing whatever kind of “widget” you work on (for me it is writing software code), telephone calls, lunch, coffee breaks and water cooler socials. It should also include what you do when you are not at work: taking out the garbage, preparing meals, taking the kids to school, reading, watching television, etc. Call this the Things I Do list.
Step 2: Evaluate
Once that exercise is complete, the next step is to determine which, of all the things you do, add the most value to your life or make you the most happy. What is left are the things that add little, or no value - things that really don’t provide any real satisfaction.
Step 3: Consider Your Options
Now that you have identified these limiting activities, you should consider three options for each:
- Eliminate: Can you simply stop doing it? Usually you cannot, but sometimes this may be the case. If it must be done, can someone else do it without you being accountable for it anymore? This is what I will call abdication. If you can simply abdicate responsibility for something that must be done, that’s great. Maybe there is a report that must be prepared daily for your manager. You know it must be done, but perhaps your manager’s administrative assistant, or a junior peer can take ownership of preparing that report. You may find that people actually want to take ownership of a task.
- Outsource: It has to be done, and you have to be responsible for it (example: feeding your kids!). Can someone else do it for you? This is what I will call delegation. Sometimes you can delegate things at little or no cost (example: your eldest child will help prepare lunch for everyone as part of their chores). Sometimes it may cost you something (example: hiring an assistant to put together sales presentation materials). In the end, it is still your responsibility to get it done, but you do so by getting someone else to do it for you.
- Automate: Is there a better way of doing something? Can a system or technology be used that gets the task done with less time and effort required on your part? A simple example might be using filters or rules in your email client to automatically file or forward certain email messages.
- Yes
- Partly (or Maybe)
- No
Step 4: Work & Live Smarter
Always prefer elimination. For each thing you do ask: can this be eliminated? There are three possible answers:
If the answer for a given task is yes, take whatever steps are required to eliminate that task. If the answer is “partly” (or maybe) you probably need to break down the task into smaller components. After breaking it down, go back and ask your self whether each one can be eliminated and repeat the process. If the answer is no, you have to move on to the next question: can I outsource or automate this task? You will have the same three possible answers for each one. If the answer is yes, you may have to consider several options and you will have to analyze each one to determine which is the best way to outsource or automate it. If the answer is “partly” (or maybe) you need to break the task down a little more. If the answer is no, well, you might have to accept that you are stuck with doing that thing for the time being. At least you know you don’t have a choice at this time, and we all have to do some things we don’t like! My advice: meditate on these tasks and ask yourself, is there any possible way to make doing this a little more fun?
Conclusion
Since starting my quest for the 4-hour workweek, I have followed this procedure in trying to account for, and manage, the things I do. I feel I can improve on my abilities when performing steps 3 and 4, as the idea behind those steps often require a change of mindset. Some things that I initially thought I could not even outsource, I have come to consider as candidates for elimination! As I become more comfortable with the idea of abdicating, delegating and automating the things I do, I find this procedure can be repeated, and the results refined over time.
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Topics: Automation, Elimination, Outsourcing |
January 16th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Excellent post Brick!
-M
January 19th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Great job! I love the idea of the Time Audit / Time Budget. My next task is reducing the hours alloted to my primary job to 30 hours per week from 60. I think I can get there through a proper time audit and enforcement.
I’ll mark this on my task list as a must-do for this upcoming week. I’ll note my accomplishments on my blog at http://www.fourhourworkweekdiary.com.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:36 am
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March 6th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
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