Unlike money and other valuables, we all have the same amount of time available to us throughout the 24-hour day. Albert Schweitzer, the famous Swiss humanitarian, once said, “There are 24 hours in every day; and if that’s not enough, you can always work at night.”
He might have said it jokingly; however, that statement is indicative of the “decision dilemma” we face daily. Time cannot be saved, it cannot be compressed, it cannot be altered, it cannot be traded, and it is available to all of us in equal amounts. What we do with those precious 24 hours is entirely up to us.
We don’t generally think in terms of “value” when we refer to time; however, that’s precisely how we must think as businesspeople. Every minute of every hour is worth something.
How do we determine what a minute or an hour is worth? If you conduct a meaningful, measurable, productive business activity, you may be able to say: “My time is worth 50 bucks an hour,” or “a hundred bucks an hour,” or “seven bucks an hour,” or whatever. You can then incorporate that “time value” into your business analysis as a tangible cost factor.
‘Time Bundles’
Conventional thinking suggests that our 24-hour days are divided (more or less equally) into three eight-hour segments. These are considered “phases of the day,” and we conduct specific daily activities within those three time bundles. The first time bundle is considered the sleep bundle, the second is the work bundle, and the third is the leisure bundle. If we lived in an ideal world, these three bundles would be equally long and equally important. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in the daily grind.
For example: We make allowances for coffee breaks, lunch, personal chores and other non-work related activities within the work bundle. We allow certain activities (such as watching television) to encroach into the sleep bundle, thus robbing from the amount of time available to recharge our batteries. We work too many hours, thereby reducing the number of hours allocated for precious leisure activities.
In other words, we are grossly disrupting the orderly structure of the three time bundles as we take away from one bundle to satisfy a deficit in another. We are “trading time.”
Remember the initial premise: There are 24 hours in the day, and that’s it. How we utilize each time bundle is up to us, but it may not always be in our best interest to borrow too heavily from one time bundle to satisfy a need in another. Sooner or later you will pay a price for that liberty, and there won’t be enough hours in your day to make up for “lost time.”
Time cannot be lost; however, it can be squandered on some activity that has little or no bearing on an important outcome. You will have to borrow time from another bundle to get back into the swing of things, thereby compromising the integrity of the bundle from which you borrowed.
Circadian Rhythms
Let’s look for a moment at the work bundle and see how those eight hours can be used most productively and how we can extract the greatest benefit from this value-time segment.
First and foremost is the need to prioritize each and every activity throughout the workday. It is simply a part of human nature to conduct those activities that are familiar and easy for us first, and to defer those activities that are inconvenient or difficult or unpleasant until later (or never).
Before we get to the point of analyzing which activities are important and which are unimportant, we need to understand that there are highs and lows throughout the day, and within each time bundle. Our bodies are governed by powerful circadian rhythms that dictate how we feel, how alert we are, how able we are to conduct certain activities, and whether we are sleepy or wide awake.
These biological circadian rhythms have been studied ad infinitum. Many books are available on that subject; however, we really don’t pay much attention to our biological tides throughout the day, and we brazenly disregard the fact that we may not be able to do certain things at certain times (or only with reduced capacity and under duress).
Some people are considered “‘morning people,” others are “afternoon burners,” and yet others work really well at night. Some people desperately need a nap after lunch (very few take one); others fall asleep during meetings at 3:00 in the afternoon. We have all experienced the devastating effects of the circadian low, but we are conditioned to disregard that temporary disability and to soldier on as if we were on top of things.
If you know (most of us do) when you are “on top,” you may want to conduct your most important activities during those hours and leave the mundane or unimportant things for the low points during the day. Once you work within, rather than disregard, your circadian rhythms, you will be more likely to produce higher quality work in less time. You will simply be more productive and efficient. You won’t have to borrow from one time bundle to satisfy your need in another.
Prioritize Tasks
In addition to understanding when we may want to do certain things, we must prioritize what activities are a) very important, b) somewhat important and c) not important (but perhaps enjoyable). You may want to get into the habit of mentally forming three stacks and developing a disciplined approach to addressing each of the tasks within those stacks according to your circadian rhythms within each time bundle.
Naturally, there will be times when it is not possible to defer an important task, even if you are aware of your lowered state of ability; however, you may want to double-check your work or ask a friend or trusted associate to assist you with an important job.
Understanding the value of time and when it may be most appropriate to do certain things during the 24-hour day is a good beginning to creating a disciplined and focused (personal and business) time agenda that transcends all three time bundles and your personal circadian rhythms, which will result in greater productivity and improved quality of work. You will be solving the age-old dilemma: doing more with less.
Alexander Rossulek, M.Sc., MBA, is the president of Corvus Business Solutions LLC (www.CorvusBusinessSolutions.com) and offers 30-plus years of experience as an entrepreneur, sales director, strategic planner and business/financial consultant. He can be reached at alexander@corvusbusiness.com or 240-405-9174.
