In this article you will learn a 4-step method that will teach you how to take advantage of time and multiply it to your liking.
I have always thought that if I could have one wish, it would be to control time. I would learn everything I want, I would correct mistakes and obviously I would be more productive.
Unfortunately I don’t know the genie, nor do I have the lamp… but being productive is mandatory.
Knowing how to take advantage of time is a characteristic of effective people and part of the success of this work lies in knowing how to prioritize; as Stephen Covey points out in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
We tend to organize our time by comparing importance vs urgency, In this way we prioritize, but in the same way we see that 24 hours a day are not enough!
The 3 dimensions of time management.
Different leaders have added a dimension to “time management”: relevance. And they define the 3 dimensions like this:
- Urgency: How soon will it matter?
- Importance: How much does it matter?
- Relevance: How long will it matter?
Thanks to this, the concept of multiply timewhich is vital to know how to take advantage of time.
By prioritizing as we regularly do, all we are doing is swapping the order of activities; so the time we have to perform our tasks is the same.
Taking into consideration the relevancewe can create more time to carry out our professional activities without neglecting family, hobbies and friends.
How to take advantage of time by multiplying it?
The answer is simple: Giving us permission today to do something that will save us time in the future.
In his book Procrastinate on Purpose, Southwestern Consulting co-founder and best-selling author of Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success, Rory Vaden; explains what questions we should ask ourselves before performing any task:
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Is it necessary to do the homework now? Can the task be deleted?
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Can the task be automated?
A simple example is spending time today defining the roles of members in a family; that way everyone knows exactly what their duties are at home and that way they don’t waste time every day arguing who does what.
By investing time today, we free up time for tomorrow and multiply it.
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Can the task be delegated?
Rory explains that the #1 reason we don’t delegate is that “nobody will do as well as we do.” The point is that at some point that person will master the function as well as we do and then we will begin to see the fruits of having invested the time to teach him.
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If the task cannot be deleted, automated or delegated, there are 2 options left:
- Concentrate and do it if it must be done immediately.
- If the task can be done later, we can procrastinate on purpose by moving it back to the bottom of our priorities. If we repeatedly find the task still undone, at some point we will do what we should have done in the first place; which is to remove it.
The importance of knowing how to take advantage of time and not procrastinate.
Rory says that procrastination is the foundation of mediocrity and the killer of success.
We must learn to differentiate when something that we must do is stopped because we don’t feel that it’s the right time (to procrastinate); or when we stop doing something Why do we decide that the time is not right?. so we give relevance to what is truly important.
In Rory’s words, the problem is not that we are too busy, the problem is that we are not in control of the situation…the good news is that we are powerful enough to decide what to do and what not to do with our time 🙂
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can purchase our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
