Steal These Thoughts 07.06.22 | Time stealers

Getting smart with time + productivity

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Taking control...

The big thought

Time...it's precious, non-renewable and something we rarely have a grip on.It's not something as humans, which we like to reflect on often. But, time is not infinite. So, it makes sense (in my mind anyway) to better understand how to protect and make the most of this precious commodity in all areas of life.

A visual tour of time

There is nothing I love more than using an attractive bunch of visuals when telling a story, And, you guessed right that this time will be no different.First off, a quick few stats for context.

So, the above is for the UK but you can find data for any country here, and if you're in the UK, why not take advantage of the glamorous life expectancy calculator from the office of national statistics.Don't say I never treat you with this newsletter!Now, let's take this data even deeper and anchor it to a real-world example. I'm going to use my own age as an example for the rest of these visuals. I'm in my mid-30s at the time of writing this.Using the data above, I can calculate that I've now used 38% of my allotted allocation of time (if I make it to 85 of course). I do hold out much hope that my dedication to kale smoothies and throwing around kettlebells for the last decade or so might just give me a few extra points.This leaves me with 62% of time leftThat was a morbid sentence to write, even for me. So, what does this leave me with in terms of experiences for the rest of my lifetime?

Yes, you get it, time is short and you must protect it.But, how can you protect it from one of it's main arch- nemeses? The workplace 😱.

Why we suck at time with work

Over the past two decades, I've spent in the traditional working world. I can 100% say most humans (including me) waste the most time at their jobs.I don't mean they're wasting time with a job. What I'm talking about is the waste of time used when completing tasks in doing said job.A lot of people over and underestimate the time it takes to complete tasks, and the required effort needed.

I find that time management, prioritisation and effort/output ratios skills are generally lacking in most of us. Yet, this is not through much fault of our own. You see, no one ever really teaches us about this stuff. Well, not very well in my experience anyway.

In the traditional workplace, the single biggest event that creates a huge waste of time is meetings (yes, get your pitchforks ready meeting lovers).Back to back meetings all day, every day is not a sign of productivity or being time smart - it means you're shit at managing time and actually delivering anything. Not only that. They're also a huge sucker on your time than you probably realise and cost a small fortune to run.If you disagree with me (and you're most certainly free to do that). Just think about how much time is actually invested in a 1-hour meeting.Let's say you attend a meeting with 7 people for 1 hourIt's an hour of your time, yes, but the true time cost of that meeting for the organisation is 7 hours.As 7 people are contributing an hour each of their time to this activity, so you better be damn sure it's going to be used well.Ok, the time cost is high but what about the financial implications. I mean 7 people in a room for 1 hour is going to be pretty expensive right? A great tool I like to use and share to bring this to life is HBR's meeting cost calculatorWhen you're debating the need for a meeting, I recommend you use this tool to calculate the average cost for this event and add the time output on top.Does that meeting and use of your time make sense now?

My disdain for meeting culture is closely followed by the time-wasters of ego-inflated long email threads (just pick up the bloody phone and talk like humans) and multi-day strategy events.To save this week's edition from turning into a fall rant on the use or should I say misuse of time. I've written a deep thought (which you can read here) on a potential way to better manage time to boost productivity, and creativity and avoid burnout.The pandemic has blurred the line between the amount of time we commit to working and outside of work activities due to most of us being in the same place.The fastest way to productivity and a balanced energy level is a better understanding of making the most of time, not more bloody meetings.

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Learn more about Meta and Microsoft's answer to this new world.

One more thing...

"Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece." Ralph Charell 

That's it for this week. Please do share your thoughts with me on these pieces or anything I share on the Twitterverse and LinkedIn. Chat to you soon and stay healthy people!Don't forget to visit my website for more content.

(P.SWriting this newsletter is a labor of love for me and I'd keep doing it if only one person read it. If you enjoy my words, this content and think it might benefit others too, then please do me the honor of sharing this with your community).

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